Same time, different place
by mell
Summary: *Complete* A new hellmouth has started to open in another part of the world. That's about all I'm going to say here. I suck at summaries. It's mostly B/S and I wrote it after beneath you.
1. chapter 1

Title:Same time, different place  
  
Author: Mell  
  
E-mail: hos_angel@hotmail.com  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing, joss is god  
  
Summary:  
  
Authors note: I'm very bad at writing long stories, mostly I give up after the second chapter or so, but I decided to give it one more try, and hopefully it will turn out okay. And also, the translation of the Swedish words will be written in Italics.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
A/N: I really felt like writing a story set in Sweden, 'cus that's my home country. And I know that I might not have the best plot here to give enough reason for them to go to Sweden, but I just REALLY wanted them to go there, so you'll just have to live with it. (Or not read the story at all, but that is one option that I hope not to many will choose!)  
  
Chapter 1. - The news  
  
The meeting had been decided in the last minute, and everyone was sleepy after being woken at 4 in the morning. Or, everyone but Spike that was, since his sleeping hours normally didn't take place at the same time as the others.  
  
Giles was pacing back and forth, watched by the six people he'd called forty minutes earlier and asked to come and meet him a.s.a.p. And they where all worried about what he had to say.  
  
When the former watcher finally stopped he had six pairs of eyes fixated on him, watching him impatiently.  
  
"We have a situation," he said calmly.  
  
Spike made one of his famous smirks and laughed quietly.  
  
"When don't we?" he said sarcastically, gaining some annoyed looks, and some amused ones.  
  
"This is serious, Spike." Giles said harshly, and the blond vampire decided that this was not the time to make jokes. Pleased to see that Spike had taken his warning seriously, Giles continued. "I got a phone-call from the council earlier this morning, and I got some worrying news. It seems like we'll have to do a small business trip to the north of Europe."  
  
A chorus of questions came all at ones, but Giles quickly raised his hand to make them understand that he wasn't finished.  
  
"It seems like another hellmouth has opened, and it is in bad need of a slayer. Hopefully we will be able to close it quickly and return home, or else." he let that hang there, and then he looked at Buffy, motioning her to speak.  
  
At first she just sat there quietly, not sure what to say. But then she took a deep breath and looked back at Giles.  
  
"I can't. It's not that I don't want to help, but I can't just leave Sunnydale like that. Dawn has school, and I've finally gotten a job that I like. You have to understand that!"  
  
Giles sat down beside her and laid a reassuring arm around her shoulders.  
  
"I wish I could tell you that it's okay, that you can stay. But I can't. There are too many lives at stake here. If you don't go, the whole universe could be sucked into hell, and you're the only one that can stop it."  
  
She was just about to protest when she felt a hand on hers, and looked into a pair off beautiful blue eyes.  
  
"It's okay luv, we will all come with you, and we'll sort this out in no time."  
  
She sighed and dragged her warm hand out of his cold one.  
  
"Spike, even if I do go, you can't come with me."  
  
He looked at her with hurt stricken eyes, and he took a step away from her.  
  
"So you still don't trust me? I can't really blame you, but I just thought."  
  
"No!" she said quickly, regretting the fact that she'd said it in such a way that he'd misunderstood. "I do trust you. But you haven't been exactly. stable lately, and I don't think it's such a good time for you to be going on a long trip. And more, how could you come with me? It's not like you can go in a plane like the rest of us?"  
  
Spike nodded and walked back to his seat. He wasn't planing on staying here by himself if she decided to leave after all, but this was neither the time nor the place to have that discussion. His thoughts where suddenly interrupted by the voice of Xander Harris.  
  
"You TRUST him? I hope you're kidding, Buff. He tried to rape you, for god's sake!"  
  
Buffy looked at him pleadingly, and after a short staring match between them he gave up and looked away angrily.  
  
"Can we get back to business?" Giles asked impatiently, suddenly remember why he had liked the quiet in England so much.  
  
Buffy and Xander looked at him apologetically, and nodded.  
  
"All of you won't have to come, the most important thing is that Buffy comes with me, and then it would be good if I had some other volunteers."  
  
Slowly hands where starting to rise, and after a moment all hands but Spike's where raised. Giles looked quizzically at the vampire.  
  
Spike shrugged.  
  
"The Slayer obviously don't want me there, so I guess I'll have to stay here in ol' Sunny-d."  
  
Giles thought about it for a moment, before returning his attention to the vampire.  
  
"I do agree with Buffy's reasons for not wanting you to come, and I could even come up with some of my own, but I have to admit that you're skills could come in handy. Both in fighting and in other matters. I know that you have some knowledge in foreign languages, and do you by any chance speak Swedish? And the plane problem I'm sure we can work out in some way."  
  
Spike seemed to think about it very hard, like it was a matter of life and death, but soon he smiled widely.  
  
"Självklart, polarn. (Of course, mate). Haven't spoken it in a while, but give me a day or two in that beautiful country and I'm sure it'll come back to me." His smile grew even wider. "So Buff, you agree with me tagging along?"  
  
Buffy sighed and looked another way when she answered.  
  
"All right. But any sign that you go all loony again, and I will lock you up in a box and send you're ass back to the states."  
  
Spike smirked and for a moment he looked just like the Spike she'd known only six months ago, all self-confident and always with a comment in hand.  
  
"Me, crazy? We're you gotten that idea from, pet? I've been sane for at least. two weeks."  
  
This made the Slayers little sister Dawn crack up in a heap of giggles in the sofa, and her laughter was contagious. Soon only Giles weren't laughing his guts out.  
  
"Please," Giles pleaded. "Can we discuss this seriously? I'm happy that you all seem to be in a good mood, and that may be the last time for a while now, but this is important, lifesaving issues."  
  
"Yeah, right. Sorry," Willow said softly, but still with a smile on her face. "So who will finance this little trip of ours? I bet the council won't do it."  
  
Giles got a thoughtful look on his face before answering.  
  
"Actually, they will pay for it all. I was quite surprised myself when they told me."  
  
Willow looked at him in surprise. A moment later she thought of something.  
  
"Hey, you said they were going to pay for everything. Does that include luxury hotel rooms with Jacuzzis and 24-7 room service?" A dreamy smile appeared in her face at that possibility.  
  
Giles sighed.  
  
"Sorry to disappoint you, Willow, but with 'everything' I meant airplane tickets and small, ordinary hotel rooms."  
  
Low disappointed grumbles spread in the room and no one was looking forward to the trip. After a while Spike stood up, breaking the silence that had been going on for what felt like hours.  
  
"I'm sorry to say that I have to leave now," he said. "But some of us have a small tendency to catch on fire when being exposed to sunlight, so I guess I should be going home now."  
  
The others nodded in response and said quick good-byes. Spike's departure Xander felt like it was okay for him to leave also. But he felt that a small comment about how much he disliked having a vampire with them to Europe, even though he now possessed a soul.  
  
"Is it just me, or is Spike strangely unaffected by the whole having a soul thing?"  
  
Buffy stared at him in disbelief.  
  
"Unaffected? Where were you only two weeks ago during the whole 'Spike talking to Spike and Spike and Spike and all the other people living in Spike's head' thing?"  
  
Xander rolled his eyes at her, but realized that particular comment wasn't really going to change the minds of all of those that obviously had totally bought Spike's act.  
  
"All right, you got me there. But he doesn't exactly go around showing remorse for all of those he's killed during the last century."  
  
Now it was Buffy's turn to roll her eyes. Xander could be so daft sometimes.  
  
"No, maybe not in public. He's always been very big on the whole idea of people seeing him as dangerous and tough. I don't think he wants to change that, probably because that's the only way he knows hot to act. But I do believe that he regrets what he's done, and the fact that he came back to help us out, knowing that we might just stake him on sight, shows that. And I'm actually happy he is back, 'cus he is a real good help on patrol, and also, he's been a good friend since he got his saneness back."  
  
She stopped as she heard the noise of someone in the door. She turned around and saw Spike standing there, and she could see clearly on his face that he'd heard everything she had said.  
  
"Um, I forgot my cigarettes," he explained quietly, obviously not sure what to think about what he had just heard the love of his unlife say about him. "And then I'll be leaving again," he added, not at all being the self assure big bad that Buffy was used seeing him as.  
  
"Yeah, why wont you just do that?" said Xander harshly.  
  
Spike just nodded, and the lack of a more angry response ticked Xander off even more.  
  
"What's up, Spike? You're voice isn't working? Or have you finally realized that the shit you say with it isn't worth hearing?"  
  
Willow, Buffy, Dawn, Anya and Giles all looked shocked at Xander.  
  
"Xander, you're such a bully!" Anya proclaimed, obviously not very unhappy about being able to say something bad about her former fiancé.  
  
"Yeah!" Dawn said in agreement, although not as enthusiastically as the vengeance demon.  
  
The others where also starting to cut in to the argument about what Xander where, when Spike interrupted them.  
  
"Look, I don't want to cause any more trouble. So I'm just going to leave now. And Buffy," he stopped to take a deep breath before looking her into the eyes, "Thank you."  
  
Seconds later he was gone, and left where a Slayer, a Key, a vengeance demon, a witch, a watcher and a very pissed of guy looking in the direction that he had disappeared.  
  
~*~  
  
She couldn't believe how much packing she would have to do, and the fact that she didn't know how long she'd be gone wasn't helping. All of her clothes where spread out on every available place in the room, and she didn't know what of it she'd need. From what she'd heard, they were going to Sweden. That's a country in the north of Europe where it snows all of the time, and it's incredibly cold, or so she'd heard. As cold as 20 degrees during the coldest days. She would have to ask Giles later if that was really true, because if it was, she'd have to by some warmer clothes, right away.  
  
"Buffy! I need some help here!" Dawn yelled from downstairs.  
  
Buffy sighed and walked down to her sister. She could use a pause from the packing anyway.  
  
"What's up, Dawn?"  
  
Her little sister where just on her way to drop a very heavy, and very expensive vase on the not at all soft floor.  
  
"It's a little heavy," Dawn said matter-of-factly, and as she did so, her grip loosened even more.  
  
Buffy rushed up and took the vase in a firm grip. When she was sure it was standing on solid ground she returned her attention to her sister.  
  
"What were you doing?"  
  
Dawn gave her an innocent look and shrugged.  
  
"I was just hiding away everything that looks expensive, 'cus you know, we might be away for a long time, and it wouldn't be very fun to come back all of our stuff being gone."  
  
Buffy looked at her little sister closely, trying to determine if that was really all.  
  
"Dawn, if there is something wrong, I hope you know that you can always talk to me about it."  
  
Dawn gave her a sweet smile and gave her sister a hug.  
  
"I know that, silly. And there is nothing wrong. It's just that." she stopped, not sure how to continue, because she really didn't want to give Buffy more to think about. "I'm not sure this trip will be that fun, that's all."  
  
Buffy sighed and gave her sister a hug back. This was really the last thing she wanted for Dawn, now that their lives where finally pretty much problem free, or at least as much it could be for a Slayer and a mystical Key living on the Hellmouth.  
  
"You know that if there was any way that you could stay here, I would fix it, right?" she said softly.  
  
"I know," Dawn said and sat down on the sofa. "And I really don't want to be left behind. I can think about this as an adventure, and a well-needed brake from school."  
  
Buffy looked at her in disbelief.  
  
"You seriously thought I would let you skip out on school like that? No way! I've talked to the principal, I said there was a family emergency and that we have to leave for a while, and that you would study at home. Willow's going to help you, so don't worry about that."  
  
Dawn had a disappointed expression on her face, but didn't protest. 'This went much better then I thought it would,' Buffy thought happily.  
  
"So, is it really as cold in Sweden as I heard Xander say?" Dawn finally asked, still looking a little sullen.  
  
Thankful for the change of subject Buffy sat down next to her sister.  
  
"I don't know, we'll have to ask Giles later. He said he would come over her sometime today."  
  
"Ask me what?" they heard a man with an English accent saying from the doorway.  
  
"Oh, hi Giles!" Dawn said enthusiastically. "We where just talking about Sweden. Where in Sweden is the Hellmouth?"  
  
Looking very delighted at being asked to teach the teenager something, Giles sat down on the chair opposite to the sofa.  
  
"The Hellmouth is located in the northern parts near the coast, and..." he was interrupted by Buffy's voice.  
  
"Northern parts?" she shrieked. "Isn't it like, unbelievingly cold there? Xander said it could be as cold as 20 there!"  
  
Giles looked at the two sisters amused.  
  
"Actually, it can be as cold as -20." They stared at him. "But don't worry, mostly it's around 20, as Xander said. I wonder how he knew that. And that really isn't very cold, you will get used to it quickly."  
  
"No way!" Dawn shrieked.  
  
"You got to be kidding me!" yelled Buffy.  
  
'This is going to be a long trip', Giles thought tiredly.  
  
~*~ TBC 


	2. chapter 2

Chapter 2.- Packing  
  
Spike didn't know what to do. He had all ready packed for the trip, and now he was just waiting for Buffy to come and get him so that they would leave. But he didn't know exactly when that would be.  
  
Sighing he lay down on the sofa and tried to sleep, but there was no use.  
  
After a moment he reached down and picked up a small, black notebook and a pen and started writing. He hadn't written poetry for real since he'd been turned, but sometimes the urge to write down his deepest thoughts came over him.  
  
And of course, Buffy was the subject of his not very good but very honest writing.  
  
~*~  
  
Buffy found him curled up in the sofa, writing with a very concentrated look on his face, clearly not noticing her arrival.  
  
Quietly she sneaked up behind him and tried to get a look of what he was writing. She had time to see the word 'beautiful' before Spike snapped the book shut.  
  
"Have you ever heard that it's not very polite to read other people's thoughts?" he said grumble-y, and to Buffy's surprise he looked like he was blushing. She didn't even know if vampires COULD blush.  
  
"Well, I wasn't reading you're thoughts, I was reading what you'd written, there's a difference," she joked.  
  
He rolled his eyes.  
  
"It's a joke," he said. "It was about fifty years ago in London, and. You really need to have been there to get it."  
  
Buffy smiled and sat down next to him.  
  
"So, what are you writing?" she asked curiously, quite surprised to see him do such a thing.  
  
Spike looked uncomfortably at the ground.  
  
"'S nothin'. Just a list off stuff I need to take with me to Sweden," he lied, and Buffy could clearly see it.  
  
"All right. If it's such an unimportant thing, why can't I read it then?" she asked, knowing that he wouldn't have a good argument for refusing her request.  
  
He definitely blushed now.  
  
"No! I mean, no that's not a good idea. It's very uninteresting and. Well, you'd be bored."  
  
She smiled at him.  
  
"I think I'll live," she said and took the book from him before he had time to stop her.  
  
What she saw really shocked her.  
  
"It's beautiful. "she whispered as she read the short poem that was about someone that Spike obviously loved very much. After a moment Buffy realized that it was about her.  
  
Spike was now looking at her with an expression that was a mix between curiosity, hope and fear.  
  
"It's not finished yet," he mumbled insecurely. "Nobody was supposed to read it, so."  
  
"Read it to me," Buffy said to him. When he looked at her with shocked eyes she smiled. "I want to hear it out loud. It's really beautiful."  
  
Spike smiled a little back, before swallowing hard. When he started reading it he did it so quietly that Buffy could barely make out the words.  
  
"Beautiful rays of sunshine Never will their light touch my skin again  
  
Beautiful sunrises Never will I see them again  
  
Beautiful green eyes No matter what they will always be there when I close my eyes  
  
Beautiful laughter The sound will always ring in my ears  
  
Even when everything else is gone"  
  
When he had stopped, he looked away embarrassed. But then he felt two warm hands take his cold ones, and he looked back at her.  
  
She had tears in her eyes and she was smiling softly.  
  
"No one has ever done something like that for me before," she whispered. "Thank you."  
  
He smiled, no longer afraid that she would laugh at his insecure attempt of poetry.  
  
"You're welcome," he said. And when he closed his eyes it was not to hide his tears or embarrassment, it was to make the most of the kiss she gave him.  
  
Suddenly his un-life wasn't that bad anymore.  
  
~*~  
  
Xander sighed and knocked on the door.  
  
He knocked again. No answer.  
  
"Where are they?" he said to himself, before slowly opening the door and walking into the crypt.  
  
"Hello!" he called out, but there wasn't any sound that indicated that there was someone in there.  
  
"This is just great," he thought. "I must've missed them."  
  
Just as he was about to turn around and leave, his eyes caught sight of something on the sofa. The thing was moving.  
  
After a moment he realized that it wasn't a thing, it was two people. And they where sleeping, holding each other.  
  
"Oh my god!" he cried. "I can't believe I'm seeing this!"  
  
The loud sound of his voice woke the blond vampire up, and he raised his head to see who'd had the courage to walk into his crypt when he finally had Buffy in his arms again. The fact that it was Xander didn't please him much.  
  
"What do ya' want?" he said sleepily, aware of the fact that the mans face had turned red by anger. "Come to insult me again?"  
  
Seconds later he was dragged off the sofa by two strong arms and thrown into the wall. Fortunately, Xander was strong, but not strong enough to be able to cause any serious damage to the vampire. But the loud thump! that the collision made woke up the Slayer.  
  
"Xander!" she cried out. "What the hell are you doing?"  
  
Xander was unbelievingly angry, but he didn't want to do anything that would make him and Buffy start fighting. So he just stood there hitting in the air with his fist in frustration.  
  
"How the hell I could do this? I'm not the one sleeping with a vampire, again!" he spit out. "I thought you said you would never be together with him again, that you could never trust him enough for that."  
  
Buffy looked at him in disbelief.  
  
"First of all, I did not sleep with Spike. Not in the way you mean at least. We just slept on the same sofa. And second, you can't decide whom I'm allowed to have a relationship with. And I said that about not being with Spike again before he came back, just after that Willow had left to England, and I was very upset. And he has changed a lot since then."  
  
Xander was just about to say something, but he was interrupted by a polite voice speaking with an English accent.  
  
"I don't want to end you're sweet little discussion here, pet. But weren't we supposed to go to the airport and leave for Sweden. 'Cus from what I've heard, that was kind of important."  
  
Buffy looked guiltily at Xander.  
  
"I promised Giles I would meet him at 7 p.m.," she stopped to look at her watch. "Yay, I'm only two hours late."  
  
Xander was still angry and he gave Spike a spiteful look.  
  
"That's why I'm here. I where going to get the two of you," he said.  
  
Buffy tried to lighten the tension in the crypt with a smile, but it didn't work very well, much do to Xander's obvious want of keeping the fight going.  
  
"All right then, lets go," she finally said, grabbing one of Spike's bags and walking out of the crypt, soon followed by a bruised vampire and an angry Xander.  
  
  
  
Giles paced back and forth in the magic shop. He could feel Anya's annoyed eyes follow his movements.  
  
"They aren't coming, Giles," she said.  
  
He sighed and sat down on a chair.  
  
"Of course they are coming. They just got held up somewhere," he said, even though he wasn't that sure if he believed it himself.  
  
The vengeance demon rolled her eyes and went back to counting her money. She seemed to be thinking about something very seriously, and soon Giles curiosity got the better of him.  
  
"Anya, what's wrong?"  
  
She sighed and stopped counting.  
  
"I was just thinking. None of you really need me in Sweden, do you? I know I said I would go with you, but I feel like there is no reason."  
  
"We can't force you to come," Giles said slowly. "But you're demon powers might come in handy."  
  
She nodded and started putting all of the money in an envelope. Giles was just about to say something more when Buffy came in shortly followed by Xander and Spike.  
  
"Giles, I'm so sorry! I was going to be here in time, but I. I got held up," she said guiltily.  
  
Xander made a strange noise, and Giles could see that there was something Buffy wasn't telling him. Then he saw the almost faded bruises on Spike's arms.  
  
"What happened? Where you attacked?"  
  
Buffy and Spike exchanged looks and then both of them looked down at the floor. Xander rolled his eyes and walked again to get something from his car.  
  
Giles saw the look on Spike and Buffy's faces, and that gave him a hint about what had happened, and he decided to drop the subject.  
  
"At least you're here now. You all ready to go?" he said.  
  
Buffy nodded and picked up her cell phone from her purse.  
  
"Yes, I'm just going to call Dawn and see if she's finished packing.  
  
~*~  
  
An hour later Giles, Buffy, Dawn and Spike sat in Giles car on their way to the airport. They could see Xander's car ahead of them, where Willow and Anya also sat. They where all feeling quite depressed over the fact that they had to leave Sunnydale, but most of them where at the same time excited that they where going to see a new country.  
  
"Spike, when where you in Sweden?" Dawn asked curiously, breaking the silence.  
  
"Ehm, I think it was about forty years ago. Me and Dru had a great time, feeding of the locals," he said, drifting away in what he would have thought of as happy memories a year ago, but they were now covered in guilt.  
  
Buffy could see his troubled expression, and decided to change the subject.  
  
"Hey, Giles. Where are we going to live? You talked about hotel rooms before, right?"  
  
Her former watcher seemed to be deep in thought, and he barely even noticed her speaking.  
  
"What?" he asked confused.  
  
Buffy sighed. This trip was SO not going to be fun.  
  
"Nothing," she mumbled, and Giles went back to his thoughts, just as Spike.  
  
The car was silent again.  
  
TBC 


	3. chapter 3

Chapter 3 -Arriving  
  
Even though it was 1 am, the airport was crowded. Family's sat on chairs, some of the sleepy children was lying on the floor next to their parents, men and woman that where going abroad for business sat in café's reading, or talking with others that might be headed the same way as them.  
  
In the midst of it all, the five humans and two not so human were walking towards their gate, all wrapped up in their own trail of thoughts. Buffy was in the front, with Spike and Dawn shortly after her. Then came Giles, Willow and Anya, and a little after the others came a still grumpy Xander.  
  
Buffy could feel Spike watching her, but she didn't slow down so that he could walk next to her, because for some reason she didn't feel like talking to him at the moment. She didn't regret kissing him earlier, but she wasn't sure about how she wanted to continue their strange relationship, determined not to let it end as badly as it had the last time. But that couldn't happen, she told herself, Spike's a different person now. And maybe that's the problem, she maybe missed the old, self- confident Spike, who didn't give a damn about what other people thought of him, and of who he might hurt if he said something mean.  
  
She let herself look back at the blond vampire, who seemed to be doing his best not to look at the people around them. His usual cocky expression wasn't at all visible in his beautiful, pale face, all that was there was the sad lost look that he'd had since the day that he finally got his sanity back.  
  
When he saw her looking at him, he increased his pace so that he was walking next to her.  
  
"You all right?" he asked softly and took her hand in his.  
  
She smiled faintly and gave his hand a light squeeze.  
  
"Peachy."  
  
He grinned at her.  
  
"Well that's great, 'cus if you hadn't been, I'd have to bite you."  
  
She felt her lips start to form into the shape of a smile but held it back. Joking with him was just like old times, before Tara's death and Spike's soul, and that were something she wanted right now.  
  
"Bite me? You wouldn't even dare trying."  
  
Spike gave her another grin, and leaned closer to her.  
  
"Maybe, maybe no'. But the real question is, would you stop me," he said with a fake evil voice.  
  
She punched him lightly in the arm, and that only made him grin wider.  
  
"What's the matter Slayer. That barely hurt, you losing you're touch?"  
  
"No," she said grimly.  
  
"Yes you are," he said back in the same tone, but his eyes were sparkling.  
  
"I'm not."  
  
"Liar."  
  
"Killer."  
  
"Slut."  
  
"Crazy freak."  
  
"Bimbo."  
  
They were now standing face to face staring at each other, and to someone that didn't know them they looked extremely angry.  
  
"Cheater."  
  
Spike laughed.  
  
"Wait, what had cheating to do with this?" he asked.  
  
She sniggered and pushed him lightly.  
  
"Not more then 'Bimbo' has," she replied.  
  
He grinned and pushed her back.  
  
"Children!" they suddenly heard a tired British voice say harshly behind them. "We do have a plane to catch."  
  
The blondes looked at each other and smiled.  
  
"Ladies first," Spike said.  
  
She giggled and started walking past him, when she suddenly was stopped. She looked up at the vampire confused.  
  
"I just remember that you aren't a lady," he said teasingly and hurried after Giles and the others before she had a chance to reply.  
  
"And you are?" she said to herself, a little disappointed at not being able to say that to his face. "That was actually quite funny," she added with a grin, making the two women walking beside her look at her strangely.  
  
  
  
~*~  
  
Soon they all where sitting in their seats on the plane. Willow was laying a blanket over Spike's sleeping body.  
  
"Do we really have to do that already? The sun won't be for hours yet," Buffy asked confused.  
  
Willow made sure no part of Spike was visible before turning to her best friend.  
  
"No, but the longer he is visible, the more people will notice when he suddenly isn't here anymore. There is no other way."  
  
Buffy sighed and leaned back on the soft pillow she had planted behind her head.  
  
"Yeah, yeah. I understand. But did you really have to put that sleep spell on him?"  
  
Willow smiled.  
  
"No, not really. But what if he decided to start talking after I'd done the glamour to hide him, it would look very strange, a voice coming from nowhere."  
  
Buffy nodded.  
  
"All right, is it anything I can help you with, you know, with the glamour."  
  
Willow nodded.  
  
"Yes, you can read this out loud," she said, giving the Slayer a paper with a couple of words Buffy didn't understand.  
  
"And then when we're finished, Spike won't be visible anymore, right?"  
  
Willow nodded again and started with the glamour.  
  
  
  
~*~  
  
Two hours later the two friends where both very tired, but none of them wanted to sleep.  
  
"What is it with Xander?" Willow asked curiously. "His been in a bad mood all day. No actually, for the whole week."  
  
Buffy shrugged.  
  
"I think he's mad about Spike being back. And him seeing me and Spike asleep on a sofa together earlier didn't help."  
  
This made Willow jump.  
  
"You and Spike.? Have I missed something here? I thought you said you were never going to be with him again."  
  
Buffy looked uncertain about what to say.  
  
"I know. It's just, he has changed so much, he isn't the same person, I mean vampire, as he was a year ago. He would never hurt me now. I was able to forgive Angel for what he did when he was Angelus, so why shouldn't I be able to forgive Spike for what he did when he had no soul?"  
  
Willow thought about it for a second.  
  
"Yes, you're probably right." The witch hesitated for a second before she continued. She had tears in her eyes now. "I want you to know that I'm with you whatever you choose to do. You can count on me. I know that I've done some stuff that was really bad, but I promise I will do everything I can to keep that from happening again."  
  
Buffy gave her best friend a quick hug.  
  
"I know that, Will. And I'm not angry with you for what you did. You loved Tara so much, and when she died. You just snapped, it could have happened to anyone."  
  
Willow looked relieved, but she could still feel the tears threatening to fall.  
  
"Yeah, but 'anyone' doesn't have super wicca powers."  
  
Buffy didn't know what to say to that.  
  
~*~  
  
The faint light of the sun that burned his hand through a small hole in the blanket that was supposed to protect him from the dangerous rays of sunlight woke him up. He frowned and quickly moved his hand into the comforting darkness again. Spike had no idea where he was, he had no memories of anything that had happened after that he'd sat down in the plane. His curiosity won over his fear of being burned again, and he lifted the blanket slowly. To his surprise, he found that he lay on a bed in a small room that he guessed was a hotel room, and he could see that it was snowing outside. Snowing! He definitely wasn't in Sunnydale anymore.  
  
When he'd started to realize where he actually where, he laid back again, waiting for the sun to set. But soon he found he wouldn't have to wait that long. Five minutes later he could hear someone sneaking in and closing the curtains for the windows.  
  
"Buffy?" he asked softly, even though he already knew it was her.  
  
Buffy walked up to the bed and sat down next to him, taking the blanket of his face.  
  
"Yes," she said with a smile. "We're in Sweden now."  
  
He laughed and sat up.  
  
"Yeah, I bloody noticed! Can't you give a bloke some warning, luv?"  
  
She laughed back and took his hand. He was a little surprised, but didn't complain.  
  
"Sorry. Willow just thought it would be easier for you to lay hidden under a blanket for hours if you where asleep."  
  
He rolled his eyes and leaned closer to him.  
  
"Willow thought? And here I've always had the impression that you're the boss," he teased her.  
  
Buffy leaned closer to him to, their noses where almost touching.  
  
"No, we're all in this together."  
  
"Sure pet, whatever you say," Spike replied just before he kissed her.  
  
The kiss lasted only a couple of seconds, but to Spike it felt like hours. But then Buffy pulled away.  
  
"Don't," she whispered softly. "We can't."  
  
Spike looked at her with hurtful eyes.  
  
"We can't 'what'? We could yesterday."  
  
She looked away from him, obviously not feeling good about what she was doing.  
  
"I'm sorry Spike. It's just. My life is complicated enough as it is, I don't need another problem."  
  
He stared at her, doing his best to keep the tears from reaching his eyes.  
  
"Problem? 'S that all I am to you? A soddin' problem?"  
  
"No! Of course not. Bad choice of words, that's all. I just can't get into another relationship with you, not after what happened last time."  
  
He looked away, tears in his eyes.  
  
"So that's what this is all about, Slayer? I can understand that you're still hurt, but I thought you said that you'd put that behind you, that I was different now."  
  
She sighed and put her hand under his chin and made him look at her.  
  
"No, I'm not talking about that in particular. I'm talking about us as a couple. It didn't work out then, what makes you so sure that it will now?"  
  
"Nothing!" he cried. "Nothing, except the love that I feel for you, now more then ever. And I'm not the same man as I where before, I've changed. You got to believe that."  
  
"I do," she whispered, tears now also in her eyes. "But I don't love you."  
  
She had never seen anyone look so devastated as he did at that moment. His whole body slouched and he looked away again.  
  
"I know," he whispered, almost to silent for her to hear. "Please leave."  
  
Buffy wanted to stay and hold him and say that everything would be all right, but she knew that that would only make this harder for him. So she just stood up and walked out of the room, leaving a sobbing vampire behind.  
  
  
  
~*~  
  
Giles had seen the look on Buffy's face when she'd gotten out of Spike's room. He knew what had happened, because she had talked with him about it earlier. He had advised her to brake it of, before anyone got hurt, either her, Spike or someone else. But the former Watcher knew it had been hard on her, and he also knew she wouldn't had done it if it weren't for the very complicated task they had before them, a task she needed her full attention to be able to do.  
  
But now he wondered if this had only made it worse.  
  
~*~  
  
Hours later a very tired Spike came into the small restaurant on the lowest floor. He didn't look at Dawn and Anya that sat at a table near the entrance, he didn't want to talk to anyone at the moment.  
  
After he'd ordered a stake that was close to rare, he sat down close enough to the kitchen that he could hear what was said inside, a hobby he'd developed over the years. There was always something interesting going on in a kitchen.  
  
"Håll tyst! Vad fan håller du på med? Den ska inte vara där, din idiot!" (Shut up! What the hell are you doing? That isn't supposed to be there, you idiot!), he heard a man with a deep voice shout, he imagined it was the boss.  
  
Soon after he could hear an angry response from what sounded like a young woman.  
  
"Förlåt så mycket då! Om du bara kunde lära dig att vara trevlig nån gång, så skulle jag kanske till och med lyssna på dig." (I'm so sorry. If you only could be polite sometime I might even listen to you.)  
  
Spike listened to the argument in fascination, finding it an amusing brake in his at the moment not very amusing un-life. But someone standing behind him interrupted him.  
  
"You all right Spike?" Anya said.  
  
Spike frowned. She was the last person he would have expected to be concerned about him, no actually that was Harris. But anyway, he was surprised.  
  
"Why you ask?" he muttered in response.  
  
She sighed and sat down next to him.  
  
"Oh, nothing really. Just the fact that I saw Buffy running out of you're room with tears in her eyes, and then you didn't come out of there for hours, and when you finally do, you have tear tracks in you're face."  
  
Spike immediately touched his cheeks self-consciously making sure there was no tears there.  
  
"I DO not have ear tracks in my face!"  
  
She smiled lightly, and he realized she'd tricked him.  
  
"No, but now I know you've been crying."  
  
Spike rolled his eyes and looked away. For some reason he hadn't felt really comfortable with the demon since that day in the Magic Shop. Then a thought hit him.  
  
"She was running? With the tears, and all?" he asked.  
  
"Who?"  
  
He rolled his eyes once more.  
  
"Buffy, of course."  
  
She stared at him with an annoyed expression.  
  
"What do you mean, 'of course'. Does everything always have to be about Buffy and her stupid problems? Just because she's this superhero everyone else suddenly don't matter?"  
  
Spike ignored her, he'd had a lot of practice doing that since the day he'd got chipped. She sighed and nodded.  
  
"Yeah, she ran. And with the tears. She broke up with you again, or what?"  
  
Spike didn't respond, he just walked up to the table Dawn was sitting at and looked at the Slayer's little sister pleadingly.  
  
"Where's Buffy?"  
  
She smiled at him, clearly happy to see him. That warmed him a little.  
  
"Hi Spike! I'm glad you're up. I think Buffy's talking to Giles, Willow and Xander about the whole war plan. It's just two rooms down the hall from yours." She looked a little mad for a moment. "They didn't want me there, they didn't say it out loud, but they suggested that I and Anya checked out the hotel. Its only two floors for God's sake!"  
  
Spike smiled at her, and gave her a small kiss on the head.  
  
"Thanks bit. Ever so thankful, and all that."  
  
She smiled back at him.  
  
"I hope everything will work out between the two of you."  
  
So do I, he thought as he walked in the direction Dawn had pointed out to him.  
  
TBC 


	4. chapter 4

Chapter 4 - planning  
  
"You're kidding, right?" Buffy said to her former Watcher. "There's no way I can just walk in there like I own the place and say, 'Hi, I'm the new slayer, and I've come all the way from America to take over'. No way!"  
  
Giles sighed and cleaned his glasses. He looked to Willow for support, but found none.  
  
"You really should have told us about this before we left," the witch said softly. "Buffy's right, we can't just got there and act like they don't know anything and we're these powerful superheroes or something that is here to save them."  
  
Buffy smiled, thankful for being backed up by her best friend.  
  
"What she said." Buffy looked at Xander. "And you, what do you think?"  
  
The brunette looked back and forth between his two best friends and Giles. He didn't want to cross Buffy and Willow, but he did agree with Giles.  
  
"Leave me out of this," he said calmly.  
  
"Thanks ever so much for the support, Xander," Giles said sarcastically. He had become more and more sarcastic since he'd come back from England, Xander noted. "But all of you have gotten this all wrong. We're not here to take over, we're here to help. And the fact that there already is people here working for the same cause as us isn't a bad thing, really."  
  
Buffy stared at him.  
  
"Isn't a bad thing? I don't want to be negative or anything, but the last time we worked with a military organization it didn't go very well, remember?"  
  
Giles patient was quickly coming to an end, they had been arguing about this for almost an hour.  
  
"They are not a military organization. They are a group of people working together to keep the population living on the hellmouth safe, nothing wrong with that. And the council has had them under strict observation the entire time. From what I've heard they have successfully killed a large number of vampire's, and quite a few demons. That's nothing to frowned upon."  
  
Buffy slammed her fists on the table in frustration, but said nothing more. She had become much more aggressive during the last couple of days, Xander noted from his position in the corner of the room. It was amazing how much you noticed about people by just watching them.  
  
He briefly thought back at how it had been before everything had gone bad, before Joyce had died. Or maybe even earlier, long before chipped Spike had come to town. Then they'd been happy, or at least as happy as anyone can be living on a Hellmouth.  
  
After a short moment of sorting through memories, he came to the conclusion, as he had done several times the last couple of weeks, that Spike was the cause of all this unhappiness. The only thing he hadn't been able to blame him for was Tara's death, but he was sure that if he just kept trying, he'd come up with something. He just couldn't stand the vampire.  
  
And of course, there he was.  
  
"'Lo, all." Spike said with a smirk. The soul hadn't changed him at all, no matter what Buffy said. "Hear you're planning the big fight. Rude to cut me out, in'nit?"  
  
Xander could see how he searched for Buffy's eyes, but she looked away. The obvious pain in both of their eyes maid Xander want to heave. She shouldn't feel sorry for the vampire, he'd tried to rape her for God's sake! And only Spike himself knew of all the other horrible things he'd done to woman in the past. A soul could never make up for that, never.  
  
But still he couldn't help that he felt a little sorry for the vampire that had gone all the way to Africa to get his soul back for her, and had become insane in the process. He was sane now, but there where still visible traces of that period in Spike's eyes and the way he acted. He seemed tired, worn out.  
  
I'm not feeling sorry for Spike! Xander said to himself angrily, but not very convincing. He sighed and frowned at the blond.  
  
"Why would we want you to be here, Spike?" he said, almost polite.  
  
Spike scowled at him but kept quiet for once.  
  
Giles finally gave up and stood.  
  
"We're not accomplishing anything quarreling like this. I say we all get something to eat, and finish this later," the Englishman said.  
  
Buffy jumped up from her chair, obviously happy to get out of the small room.  
  
"Great, I'm starving. You coming, Will?" she asked, looking at Willow.  
  
The witch hadn't time to respond before Buffy was grabbed in the arm by Spike.  
  
"You don't mind, do you?" he asked Willow, but without taking his eyes off Buffy's. "Me and the Slayer's going to have a little chat."  
  
"Spike." Buffy started, but was cut off by him laying a gentle hand over her mouth.  
  
"Shh. Please. We need to talk. Everything went so wrong earlier in my room, now both of us has calmed down, and we can have a nice friendly conversation."  
  
She hesitated for a moment before turning to Willow.  
  
"I catch up with you later, okay?" she said to her.  
  
Willow nodded and walked up to Xander.  
  
"You hungry?" the red-haired girl asked.  
  
"Starving."  
  
~*~  
  
Willow watched Spike and Buffy from another part of the restaurant. They where sitting opposite from each other at a small table near the windows. It was still a couple of hours until sunrise, and the sky outside was coal black. They seemed to be in a very serious discussion, but sometimes she could see Buffy smile. Willow was worried about her friend and she wanted her to be happy. Even if she didn't know if Spike was the right person to make her that, she wasn't against the idea to try it. But in the end it was Buffy's decision.  
  
She turned her head around to look at Xander. He was watching Spike and Buffy just as she'd done, but with anger in his eyes. She sighed and leaned closer to him.  
  
"Why are you so against Spike?" she asked gently. "What has he done recently that is so bad?"  
  
Xander stared at her in disbelief.  
  
"What he has done? I could make a list!"  
  
Willow glared at him.  
  
"The important word was 'recently'. And with that I mean, after he got his soul back."  
  
Xander looked angry again.  
  
"Why is everyone so eager to forget everything his done just because of that soul? I don't think he's changed that much."  
  
"Maybe not on the surface. But if you just gave him a chance, you would see that he has changed, at least in the ways that really matter," she said, harsher in her tone now then she'd been before.  
  
He didn't look at her, or in any other way respond to what she had said. Soon she gave up her attempts to make Xander more positive of Spike.  
  
  
  
  
  
~*~ Buffy avoided his eyes. She felt like everyone working at the restaurant stared at them, the blond nicely dressed young woman and the man with bleached hair and a leather duster. She told herself that it was just her imagination, but she would swear she saw a young boy watching them intensely, following their every movement with his eyes.  
  
Buffy turned her head to Spike to tell him her observation, but forgot all about it when she saw the look on his face.  
  
"What's wrong?" he said tiredly, looking extremely lost.  
  
"Nothing," she whispered back.  
  
He sighed and took her hand slowly.  
  
"We need to talk," he said seriously.  
  
Buffy nodded and waited for him to continue.  
  
He took a deep unnecessary breath and leaned closer to her.  
  
"I want you to know that I love you, and I know I've told you that before. But I can't go on like this. It's killing me."  
  
She nodded once more, her confused thoughts noted humorlessly that he used the same words as she had when she'd broken up with him.  
  
"I want more then anything to be you're friend, and I'll always be here for you if you need me, but I think it's best if I leave."  
  
Buffy looked up at him, shocked.  
  
"Leave? Why? We need you here right now. I don't really know what's going on, Giles still hasn't told me anything more then that there is a Hellmouth here, but I do know that its serious. And we need all the help we can get."  
  
"But what about those soldier boys, then?" he asked.  
  
One more time she was shocked.  
  
"How did you know about them?"  
  
He smirked, a trace of the old Spike.  
  
"I listened to you for a while before I walked in. I heard you talking about them."  
  
"Do you know anything about them, then? Giles didn't tell much." She asked curiously.  
  
"No, I would guess they came here long after I was here the last time. That was almost thirty years ago. A lot can happen in thirty years, you know."  
  
"Yes, I know," she replied, a little confused by the fact that he still held her hand. Hadn't he just said that he wanted to be just friends with her? But she wasn't going to protest, it felt good.  
  
"Hey, can't you tell me about what you did the last time you where here, Spike? You never told us about it before."  
  
He leaned back in his chair and smiled at her.  
  
"Nothing much, just travelling around, looking at the usual tourist places. And eating a couple of the employees of course, but that goes without saying."  
  
Buffy laughed and hit him playfully on the arm.  
  
"Pig!" she laughed. "What do you say about leaving out those parts of the story, and just telling me the important stuff."  
  
He grinned at her.  
  
"What are you talking about, those where the important stuff," he said, immediately avoiding another hit. "You've lost you're touch, Slayer. You would never had missed me before," he teased her.  
  
Buffy hit him again, and this time she found her target, and smiled. It felt good to do this, being friends with him, joking. She hadn't done that in a long time, with anyone. Not even Willow, and they had been best friends for years. But after Tara's death and Willow going crazy they hadn't entirely been able to o back to what they where before.  
  
"Seriously, Spike, what did you do?"  
  
He smiled at her once more before he shrugged.  
  
"Not that much, honestly. Dru had had a vision where it was some big thing in Sweden so we came here. But nothing happened. At the time we didn't have much else to do so we decided to stay for a while. In the end it turned out to be 18 months."  
  
Buffy stared at him in disbelief.  
  
"You're saying you where here for 18 months and nothing interesting happened? And killing doesn't count."  
  
He rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair.  
  
"Okay, I guess I have to come up with something then, can't make the lady disappointed can I? Lets see, well we traveled around a lot, and we met all kinds of demons." Suddenly he remembered something that might be important. "Hey, I met this demon girl not that far from here, she could read fortunes and sometimes look into the future. I don't know how accurate her information was since I didn't ask her anything, but maybe we should give it a try?"  
  
Buffy stared at him.  
  
"A demon fortune teller? That's a first. And what makes you think she would want to help us, I am the Slayer, if you remember."  
  
Spike grinned at her.  
  
"No problem. Whit my charm. I could make her do anything," he teased.  
  
Buffy had to laugh a little but she quickly regained her seriousness and gave him a glare that could kill.  
  
"Touchy today, eh? All right. She will help us 'cus she isn't really evil, she helps anyone for the right price, and she prides herself with being on neither side of the whole good and bad thing."  
  
Buffy smiled at him, pleased.  
  
"Okay, what are we waiting for? Let's go see her," she said eagerly. She was just about to get up when she was stopped by Spike's hand on her arm.  
  
"Wait a sec, luv. There are only a couple of hours until sunrise. It's better to wait until tomorrow, plus we've had time to figure out exactly what to ask her by then."  
  
Buffy sighed and glared at him.  
  
"When did you become the sensible one?"  
  
He laughed and got up.  
  
"It's time for me to eat now, so if you excuse me." he said. She looked at him confusedly. "I can't drink my blood inside the restaurant, can I? That wouldn't be very considerate to the other guests."  
  
Buffy nodded in agreement and smiled when he kissed her playfully on her hand as goodbye.  
  
~*~  
  
Just after sunrise all of them where gathered in Giles room, mind set on making the plans.  
  
"All right, who wants to start?" Giles said, looking around at the others.  
  
Buffy looked up at him expectantly.  
  
"Why wont you do that? You still haven't told us much about what we're here to do, just that we're needed."  
  
Giles nodded and sat down on the small couch under the windows that were covered with blankets to keep the sun out.  
  
"I don't know were to start. But I guess I could begin with when I found out about this," he started hesitantly. "It was four months ago in England, Willow was still recovering. The council contacted me and told me about a new hellmouth that was about to open, and that it was in desperate needs of a Slayer. After a lot of thought I agreed to assist you and I immediately started gathering information about this place. It seems like this small town on the hellmouth is being protected by an organization of ordinary people who in different ways have figured out that something isn't right here. None of them have any earlier experience of vampire and demon killing," he stopped to take a sip of his tea.  
  
"So you're basically saying we not only have to kill the demons and keep us alive, we also have to baby-sit a bunch of amateur soldiers?" Spike cut in before Giles had a chance to continue.  
  
Giles looked at the vampire impatiently.  
  
"I don't think you can really call them amateurs, they've been doing this for five years, quite successfully. And they've also managed to keep it discrete, almost none of the other inhabitants no of the dark powers rising her."  
  
"Have you ever considered going into poetry, Giles?" Xander said with a grin, gaining a number of annoyed looks from his friends.  
  
Before there was a chance for an argument to start, Buffy led them in to another track.  
  
"Spike and I are going to see this fortune teller tomorrow."  
  
Everyone turned their heads to look at her.  
  
"A fortune teller? How come she'd allowed to have fun when I'm not?" Anya said.  
  
Spike sighed.  
  
"She's not really a fortune teller, more of a seer," he said impatiently.  
  
Willow looked at Spike curiously.  
  
"Is she for real?" she asked.  
  
Spike shrugged.  
  
"From what I've heard, she has yet to fail. But I haven't tried her myself."  
  
Dawn looked at him enthusiastically.  
  
"Can she tell you anything? And why didn't you ask her anything?"  
  
The vampire smiled at her.  
  
"Yes, I guess so, and second, I didn't want to make Dru jealous."  
  
Buffy laughed.  
  
"You weren't allowed to talk to other woman?"  
  
Spike rolled his eyes at her.  
  
"No, I could talk to anyone I wanted. And I didn't want to talk to Anna 'cus I knew she was a better seer then Dru, and THAT would make her jealous."  
  
"Anything you say," Buffy teased him.  
  
Giles put his cup down on the table hard enough to catch their attention.  
  
"You're leaving the subject. So, you and Spike are going to see her tonight?" he asked Buffy.  
  
She nodded in response.  
  
"Can I come too?" Dawn asked.  
  
Spike and Buffy exchanged looks, and he shrugged.  
  
"All right. But I'll be the one asking the questions, okay?" Buffy said seriously to her sister.  
  
"Party spoiler," the teenager muttered, but kept quiet after that.  
  
"Fine, now that that's settled, we can decide when to meet the soldier boys," Anya said happily. "Do they have uniforms?"  
  
All eyes turned to her.  
  
"What?" she exclaimed loudly.  
  
Before anyone else had time to say anything, Giles stood up.  
  
"All right. This is how it's going to be. Buffy, Spike and Dawn, you go see that demon tonight. Willow and I will research here and Xander will go see the army-lads." Anya stared at him. "And of course, Anya will also go there." He looked at her mildly. "Anything else you want?"  
  
"I'm good!" she said with a smile.  
  
"Fine then. I advise you all to get some rest then. All of us, except Buffy, Spike and Dawn, will leave in two hours."  
  
Everyone nodded and soon they had all left the room. Giles looked out to the hallway outside to make sure that no one was within hearing range. There was no one there.  
  
He picked up the phone and made a call to England.  
  
"It's all going just as planned," he said to the person in the other end of the line. "Even better, in fact."  
  
~*~  
  
Anya was in a good mood. Not only where she going to meet a whole bunch of military men, which was probably all incredibly good-looking, she also had the perfect opportunity to see if she still could make Xander jealous.  
  
Her former fiancé wasn't as cheerful as she, but in a better mood then he'd been in days. Maybe it was the thought of having much to do that was making the difference. Lot to do meant little time to think about all that had gone wrong in his life, and in his friend's.  
  
The building that was just as headquarters was a two-floor office building. It was steel gray and the small windows where all covered with dark curtains, making it impossible to look in from the outside.  
  
"Nice plays," Xander said sarcastically. "You feel right at home, don't you think?"  
  
Anya shrugged and walked up to the front door and knocked loudly. Soon they could hear the sound of footsteps coming towards them.  
  
"Ja?" (yes?) a male voice called out as he saw them after he'd opened the door slightly. "Kan jag hjälpa er med någonting?" (Is there something I can help you with?)  
  
Anya gave him her most winning smile and reached out her hand though the thin opening between the door and the doorframe.  
  
"Hi, I'm Anya. I'm afraid I don't speak Swedish, so is it okay if you speak English?" she said.  
  
He looked at her surprised before answering her in shaky English.  
  
"Yes, of course. I was wondering what you wanted?"  
  
Xander looked at the man with hatred as Anya gave him another smile.  
  
"Oh, we're just visiting from America. We thought we could give you a hand with the slaying of demons and vampires."  
  
The man looked at her shocked.  
  
"I'm sorry, but I must have misunderstood. Did you mean vampires as in people who drink blood?"  
  
Xander stared at him in annoyance.  
  
"Yes she did, and don't pretend not to know what we're talking about, we know what you've been doin'."  
  
The man still looked very shocked.  
  
"I don't."  
  
Anya sighed and gave Xander a deadly glare.  
  
"Ever tried being polite?" she asked, gaining an amused look from Xander. She ignored him and returned her attention to the soldier. "What's you're name?" she asked, still smiling.  
  
"Stefan," he got out nervously. "Look, I don't know who you people are, but I think it would be best if you." He got interrupted by someone behind him that placed a hand on his shoulder.  
  
"Du kan gå nu, Stefan," (you can leave now) the person said.  
  
Anya smiled once again and lightly but determined pushed the door opened totally.  
  
"Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Anya, and this is Xander. We're visiting from America and we thought we could help you out a little."  
  
The man standing in the door opening gave her a small but not very pleasant smile back.  
  
"I know, I heard you before. I'm Johannes, and I want to make you both feel very welcome. We've been expecting you, come," he said, making it clear he wanted them to follow him inside.  
  
Confused Xander and Anya looked at each other.  
  
"Did they know we where coming?" Anya whispered to Xander.  
  
"I have no idea," he replied.  
  
Not knowing what else to do, they followed Johannes inside the building.  
  
~*~  
  
Willow sat at a computer in the city library they had gone to an hour earlier. She had searched the site's for what felt like days but found nothing, at least nothing that was useful to them.  
  
"God, this is boring," she said to herself as she got up from her chair and walked up to Giles. "You finding anything?" she asked.  
  
The Englishman sighed and shook his head.  
  
"No. I was hoping that the books I sent for from England would have arrived by now, but I'm afraid it isn't so. There is only a few books here in English, and none of them are of any use to us."  
  
Willow wasn't surprised. She'd had a gut feeling that this trip wasn't going to get them anywhere.  
  
"What do you say about leaving?" she asked tiredly. "I doubt that we will find anything here."  
  
"I take it you haven't found anything either?" he asked her softly.  
  
"Nope, not one word about hellmouth's and demons in this little town. Apparently those that no anything about it here hasn't found it important to write it down somewhere were others can find it and use it for good causes such as closing the hellmouth."  
  
Giles smiled a little at the witch.  
  
"I guess you're right, we might as well leave right away," he said grabbing his coat.  
  
Just as they where about to leave they where stopped by a young woman.  
  
"I'm sorry, but I couldn't help but overhear you're discussion. I might know things that can be of use to you," she said with a slight Swedish accent.  
  
Willow turned to look at the girl. She looked like she was about twenty, maybe a little older, but not much. She had long blond hair that looked a little red in the bright light from the lamps in the ceiling and her eyes were bluish gray. At the same second Willow saw her she thought that this girl must be the most beautiful person she'd ever seen. She couldn't help but blush a little when she answered her.  
  
"You have. That's really great! But how do you know anything about that?" she asked, her face quickly turning into the color of a tomato.  
  
The girl smiled at her.  
  
"I think I should introduce myself first, I'm Alexandra."  
  
Giles watched the girl hesitantly.  
  
"I'm Rupert Giles, and this is Willow Rosenberg. How come you know anything about the matters that we where discussing?"  
  
Alexandra gave him a small smile.  
  
"I can understand that you're wondering how someone like me knows anything about the forces of darkness, but things aren't always as they seems. I know about these things because my ant Anna told me, just as she told me just three hours ago that you would be here and that I should come and meet you."  
  
Giles stared at her, shocked.  
  
"Anna, as in Anna the seer?"  
  
Alexandra smiled brightly.  
  
"That's right. I'm surprised you know of her. She said one of you would know her, but I didn't think you all did. I guess he told you, then."  
  
"Who?" Willow said, not being able to take her eyes of the blond.  
  
"The vampire of course," Alexandra said sweetly. "Spike is his name, if I'm not mistaken. He met my ant a couple of years ago, and she's been waiting for his return. She became very excited this morning when she saw him in one of her visions. She sent me over her immediately."  
  
"Let me get this straight," Giles said thoughtfully. "You're ant is a several thousand year old demon? You seem to be a normal human, if my eyes don't play tricks on me. How is that possible."  
  
Alexandra looked at the former Watcher impatiently, before turning her attention to Willow, who seemed to be less hostile.  
  
"What do you say about going somewhere else to talk about this? There's a café only five-hundred meters from here."  
  
Willow shrugged and followed the blond towards the exit. But she was soon stopped by Giles who looked at her seriously.  
  
"We can't trust her. We've only just met the girl."  
  
Willow gave him an annoyed look.  
  
"Giles, you can't go around being all suspicious about everyone we meet. Then we'll never get friends here."  
  
"We're not here to make friends! We're here to save these people and close the hellmouth!" he whispered harshly.  
  
"You coming?" Alexandra called from outside.  
  
Willow walked towards her and soon Giles followed, all though not very happy about it.  
  
TBC 


	5. chapter 5

Chapter 5 - explanations  
  
Spike, Buffy and Dawn drove around in the car Buffy had rented earlier trying to find the small house that the seer lived in. That was much easier said then done.  
  
"I thought you said you knew where she lives?" Buffy said impatiently to her ex-boyfriend.  
  
Spike rolled his eyes.  
  
"A lot has changed over the years, that happens," he said for the umpteenth time. "And this would go much faster if the two of you would just be quiet and let me think."  
  
"What? I haven't said anything. Don't be all blaming me here, Spike. Leave me out of this!" Dawn exclaimed from the backseat.  
  
Spike groaned.  
  
"Please?" he said tiredly.  
  
  
  
~*~  
  
Xander and Anya sat in a couple of uncomfortable chair in a tiny room in the office building. The only other person in the room was an old woman sitting at a desk reading. She hadn't made any indication at all during the ten minutes they had been there that she had noticed their presence. Finally she looked up.  
  
"What are you're names?" she said in bad English.  
  
"Ehm, I'm Xander Harris, and this is Anya," Xander said nervously. "Could you please tell us why we're being held here?"  
  
The old woman looked at him amusedly.  
  
"You're not being held, you can go at any time you want. But I don't recommend it, if you desire to get the answers to you're questions, young man."  
  
Anya looked at her annoyed.  
  
"Well then I suggest you start talking, or else I and my ex-fiancé will leave."  
  
The old woman laughed unpleasantly.  
  
"You're an impatient one, aren't you? You will get to talk to Nils when he's ready, but I don't think you'll have to wait much longer."  
  
As if her words had been some sort of sign a tall blond man in his late twenties walked in and gave them a polite smile.  
  
"Hello, I'm Nils Jonsson. It's very nice meeting you. We've been expecting you now for the last couple of weeks, I'm surprised it took you so long to find us," he said, with a very nice and friendly voice. The kind of guy you just can't dislike.  
  
Xander stood up impatiently so that he was just as tall as the blond man was.  
  
"Okay, lets skip the hello's and go straight to the business, okay? How did you know we where coming?" he said.  
  
"The council told us," Nils replied, like it where the most obvious thing in the world. "I thought you already knew that, they told us you had a man from the council with you."  
  
Anya sighed in frustration.  
  
"Yes we have, but he seems to find it unimportant to tell us such things."  
  
Nils looked at her in surprise.  
  
"But I talked to Mr. Giles yesterday and he said it was all going after schedule. I must have misunderstood something."  
  
"Yes, you must have," Xander said sounding hostile.  
  
Nils put his hands on the two Americans shoulder's and led them out of the room.  
  
"Yes you're right. And I find it very unnecessary to argue about such a thing. Lets go to somewhere more comfortable and talk about more important things."  
  
Before Xander had time to say anything Anya smiled brightly.  
  
"That sounds great. I'm starving."  
  
Nils chuckled and looked at her.  
  
"The cafeteria it is then."  
  
~*~  
  
The house was just as he'd remembered it. It was red with white corners and only one floor. It couldn't be more then three rooms inside. In the yard in front of it were small apple trees, but without leaves since it was winter.  
  
Spike stopped the car and asked the girls to stay inside while he checked the place out. But before he even got to place on foot on the stairs the door was opened and a young woman came out.  
  
"Hello William. I've been expecting you and the girls. Why wont you ask them to come over here?" she said with a warm voice, that held no trace of that this girl was in fact an ancient demon.  
  
Spike gave her one of his most charming smiles before he gave her a hug.  
  
"You haven't changed one bit, have you Anna?" he said.  
  
She laughed.  
  
"No, why would I? But you on the other hand, have changed very much. If it wasn't for that famous smile of yours I wouldn't have recognized you."  
  
Spike smiled widely and then turned around and called for Buffy and Dawn.  
  
"'S all right. Come over here and meet Anna."  
  
Buffy and Dawn climbed out hesitantly and walked up to them. Dawn watched the seer curiously. She was short and had long brown hair. She looked not a day older then eighteen.  
  
"You don't look like you're a thousand years old," she said.  
  
Spike looked away to hide his smile, but Buffy stared at her sister shocked.  
  
"Dawn!"  
  
"Don't worry," Anna said, laughing. "I know I don't look old. And in fact, I'm even older then you said, Dawn. I celebrated my two-thousand and twenty- fifth birthday two weeks ago."  
  
Buffy watched the demon pensively.  
  
"Spike said that you're a seer," she finally said. "What do you know about the Hellmouth that is about to open here?"  
  
Anna gave her another smile before turning to the door.  
  
"There is much time to discuss those serious and worrying matters. I suggest we talk about something else first over coffee."  
  
Spike shrugged and walked in after the seer, and was soon followed by the slayer and her sister.  
  
The kitchen had all kinds of modern equipment's, but still it looked like it was from a painting from the 19th century. The walls were painted dark green and the table and chairs were all dark brown. The small coffee cups were small and white with small drawings on them. It felt very welcoming and homey.  
  
"Nice place you got here," Dawn said politely.  
  
Anna filled her cup with coffee and sat down next to her.  
  
"Thank you. That's so nice. I've had it this way for the last hundred years, I've only added some cooking equipment's. It's nice to be able to make some food if I have visitors." She stood up again and took something out of the fridge. It was a bag of blood. She handed it to Spike who looked at it suspiciously.  
  
"Is it." he started.  
  
"Yes," she said before he had time to finish his question. "But don't worry, my niece took it from the blood-bank at the hospital. No one has been injured in the process of getting you that blood."  
  
"Thanks. And by the way, how is Sara? I guess she's finished university by now," he said.  
  
For a moment it was like a shadow passed over Anna's face and she looked away.  
  
"Sara is dead," she said shortly. "I'm talking about her daughter, Alexandra."  
  
Spike looked at her sympathetically.  
  
"I'm sorry. I know you cared very much about her."  
  
Anna nodded and gave him a mug to put the blood in.  
  
Buffy and Dawn looked back and forth between Spike and Anna.  
  
"I'm sorry but. niece? By the fact she had a daughter I'm guessing she's human? Am I the only one not getting this?" Buffy said.  
  
Spike gave her a 'think for a minute' look, but Anna just gave her one of her no familiar gentle smiles.  
  
"She's not my real nice, or they aren't, or whatever. I took care of their great-great grandmother many years ago and since then they've been a part of my family, or actually, I've been a part of theirs."  
  
Dawn leaned in curiously.  
  
"But aren't they wondering about the fact that you're not aging?" she asked.  
  
"No," Anna laughed. "They know all about what I am, and what I do for a living. It would have been quite hard to keep it from then. Actually Alexandra is a very skilled witch, and I hear that one of your companions is also a witch, Alexandra has been looking forward to your arrival for months now."  
  
"Months? I don't understand. We only decided to go here last week." Buffy said confused.  
  
"Remember the bit about the visions, luv?" Spike asked amused.  
  
Buffy blushed and looked down.  
  
"Oh, yeah right. Forgot."  
  
"When are we going to meet Alexandra, then? And how old is she?" Dawn said, gaining a thankful look from her older sister for the change of subject.  
  
Anna took a sip of her coffee before answering the teenager.  
  
"Oh, she's 19, and I imagine she'll be back within an hour or so."  
  
"Can't you see when she'll be back?" Dawn wondered.  
  
Spike laughed and put his mug down.  
  
"I don't think she uses her gifts to find out such small things, niblet."  
  
"No, I don't," the seer agreed. "But if you want to know the exact time she'll be here, I can call her on her cell phone."  
  
Dawn shrugged and tried to look like she didn't care.  
  
Soon Anna had a phone in her hand, waiting for her niece to answer. The only one of the others in the room that could her what was said was Spike.  
  
"Hej Anna!" a woman said. "Vad är det?" (Hi, what is it?)  
  
"Hej, jag undrade bara när ni kommer. Vad tycker du om våra gäster?" Anna replied. (Hi, I just wondered when you'll be here. What do you think about our guests?)  
  
The voice of the girl became almost a whisper, and Spike had to concentrate hard to hear what she said.  
  
"Vi kommer om en halvtimme ungefär. Gubben är ganska sur och tråkig, men han verkar ganska smart. Å tjejen. Hon verkar jätte trevlig, väldigt. trevlig." (We'll be there in about 30 minutes. The old man is quite boring and sullen, but he seems to be very intelligent. And the girl. She seems to be very nice, very. nice."  
  
Spike chuckled and Anna gave him a warning look. He looked away trying to look innocent, but not succeeding.  
  
"Trevlig, va?" Anna laughed. "Det har man ju hört förut. Men skynda dig hem nu." (Nice, huh? I've heard that one before. Just hurry home now.)  
  
When Anna had hung up she gave the vampire a deadly look.  
  
"Anyone ever told you eavesdropping is a very bad habit?" she asked.  
  
Spike smirked at her.  
  
"Yeah, lots of 'em. But don't worry, I didn't listen."  
  
Dawn started to giggle uncontrollably, but Buffy gave him an annoyed look.  
  
"Can't you ever be serious?" she asked.  
  
"What's the fun 'bout that, luv?" he replied quickly.  
  
Before they had time to start arguing for real Anna broke in.  
  
"I think it's time for us to start talking about the important things, don't you?" she said calmly, but with steel in her voice. Both the Slayer and the vampire quickly looked away from each other. For reason none of them could understand they felt uncomfortable doing anything against the seer's will.  
  
"Okay then. Ask me anything you want, but I can't guarantee that I'll answer you. Not that I can't but some things you're just not supposed to know yet. And I also want you to know that I'm not taking sides here, if any of you're enemies come her tomorrow and ask me questions, I will answer him just as I've answered you," Anna said.  
  
Buffy looked at her suspiciously.  
  
"But I thought you where." Buffy started, not sure what word she should use. Finally she took the first word that came up in her mind. ". good."  
  
The seer looked at Spike sternly.  
  
"You didn't explain to her what I am?" she asked him.  
  
Spike moved uncomfortably under her gaze, avoiding too meet her eyes.  
  
"I did explain. Just not in detail. She knows that you're a seer, and I did say that you where on neither side, not good not evil. But you have to admit that you didn't seem very much like and evil person when we came here, no one would ever think badly of you," he said trying to explain himself.  
  
Anna sighed and turned to the two Summers' sisters.  
  
"I guess I have to tell you about me before we go on talking about anything else. I'm a keeper of balance and truth. I can not lie, or cheer for any team. The reason for me being nice is that there is not evil in me, but there is no goodness in me either, I'm just being polite. And yes, I can love, but love has nothing to do with good or evil, love is it's own thing. If I should decide to only help you out, and totally ignore the forces of darkness, the balance would brake and it would be the start of total chaos. There are a couple of more demons like me out in the world, and if one of us fails, and some already has, it's up to the rest of us to fix it. But in the process of doing so we could start even more problems, so we do everything we can to keep ourselves in the middle."  
  
Buffy had listened carefully to everything she had said, and now she looked at the seer harshly.  
  
"So you say you're not evil, but not good either. Then what about you're niece? What is she? I guess she's not like you, since she is human. Have you made her evil, or good? All to keep the balance, I presume."  
  
Anna looked at Spike pleadingly. He smiled at the seer reassuringly before turning to the Slayer.  
  
"Pet, don't be so harsh with her. She's only doing what she has to do, just like you are," he said softly.  
  
"And Alexandra is good," Anna said calmly, with only a hint of irritation in her voice. "Her mother never really liked the fact that I couldn't take sides, and she made sure of that Alexandra never where in contact with the demons and vampires that came to visit me and ask for my advise. She had quite a temperament." She smiled at Spike. "I think you're boyfriend here can give you an example of that."  
  
"He's not my boyfri-," Buffy started saying, but was cut of by Spike's hand on her mouth.  
  
"'S all right, luv. She knows that." He chuckled a little, as he seemed to recall some distant memory.  
  
"What's funny," Buffy asked. "I didn't see anything funny about that."  
  
Spike rolled his eyes at her.  
  
"I just remember what Sara did the last time I was here," he said. "She kicked me out before I even had time to knock on the door. For a usual human woman without any super strength that's pretty impressing. I would probably have done something to her if it weren't for that miss seer here stopped me."  
  
"Why did she kick you out?" Dawn asked curiously. "Did you do anything?"  
  
Spike laughed and took up his mug with blood again.  
  
"Nah, nothing really. Just some remark about her hair."  
  
This made Anna break out into uncontrollable laughter, and soon also Dawn. Buffy tried her best not to accompany them, even though she had some problems with that.  
  
Spike watched the Slayer with interest, she really seemed to be in a better mood these days.  
  
"Okay, I think it's time to start talking business now, don't you?" an annoyed Buffy said. "What do you know about the Hellmouth."  
  
"You really are impatient, don't you?" Anna said. "I guess that's a good thing if you are a Slayer. I know a lot of things about the Hellmouth, and it would take to long to tell you all about it, so I think you should narrow your question down."  
  
"When did the Hellmouth start to open here?" Spike said. "Neither of us had even heard the slightest about it until a couple of days ago."  
  
Anna seemed to be deep in thought, and it took what felt like hours for Spike before she replied.  
  
"I started seeing it in my visions about six years ago, but the first time I saw any physical evidence of it was four months ago, I saw how a girl was dragged into a hole in the ground and was given to a large demon. He ate her whole, it was a horrible sight, I couldn't eat for days. And then three says later a five year old girl disappeared."  
  
"Why didn't you help her?" Buffy asked. "Surely you could have warned someone and made sure the girl was protected."  
  
Anna sighed.  
  
"I can get involved in such things, you have to understand that. It was a necessary thing that had to happen, and if I would have stopped it things wouldn't have gone as it was supposed to."  
  
Buffy was about to say something else when she was stopped by a warning look from her sister.  
  
"Is the Hellmouth almost opened already?" Dawn asked.  
  
"No, not yet. After the girls disappearance the people here started looking out after unnatural things, such as vampires and demons. Soon some of them even came to me, and I told them as much as I could without disturbing the balance. That was the start of the group that has been killing vampires here the last couple of months, and if I remember it correctly, two of your friends are visiting them as we speak," she said. "This group has slowed down the opening of the Hellmouth enough to give you time to come here, just as I had foreseen."  
  
Buffy looked up at the seer.  
  
"But will it open soon? How much time do we have?" she asked.  
  
Anna smiled at Spike and walked to her fridge.  
  
"You want any more blood, William?" she asked.  
  
Buffy punched down her hands into the table in frustration.  
  
"Please, can't you just answer my question? Will it open soon?"  
  
Anna turned around with an angry expression. It almost looks like her eyes were filled with lightening.  
  
"You have to learn to be patient, girl! Yes, it will happen soon, you have time to see the sun set eight times and then on the eight night it will open. That have I foreseen."  
  
Buffy and Dawn looked at each other hesitantly. The seer obviously wasn't as harmless as they'd thought.  
  
"So you're saying we have eight days? Tha' isn't tha' bad, we've beaten worse things then tha'," Spike said softly, clearly trying to make Anna calm down.  
  
"Yes William, I'm sure you have. But this is bigger then anything you've ever faced before. In my visions I saw death and pain, and one of you will loose someone you love more then anything else. And those that survive will never be the same again. I warn you to take this lightly," Anna said, still sounding very angry.  
  
They all stared at her in horror.  
  
"Die? Who is going to die?" Spike asked, his gaze went back and forth between Buffy and Dawn.  
  
Anna looked him in the eyes.  
  
"I'm sorry, but I can't tell you that. Please ask something else."  
  
"Will we win?" Buffy asked.  
  
The seer smiled secretively.  
  
"That hasn't been shown to me, I do not think it's decided yet. All I know is that what you do now is going to affect the outcome, so don't do anything hasty."  
  
Buffy sighed and got up from her chair and started pacing.  
  
"Great! You can tell us about horrible things that will happen, but not how we can prevent it! That's just typical."  
  
Spike got up also and put one arm around her shoulders. Soon she leaned her head against his chest and they stood like that. Soon Buffy's eyes were filled with tears threatening to fall.  
  
"I am sorry, but there is nothing I can do," Anna said harshly. "And I don't think that it's fair to blame me for this, you should be happy to know as much as I've told you already, and there is still a couple of more things I'm allowed to tell you."  
  
Neither Buffy nor Spike said anything, so Dawn was the one that had to continue with the questions.  
  
"What is it we're up against? Is it vampire's or demons, or both?" she asked worriedly. "And how many are they?"  
  
Anna gave her a comforting smile and put one hand over hers and squeezed.  
  
"Demons, vampires and even humans. There is traitors among those that says they will help you, so don't trust anyone else but those you really know. But everyone is a not traitor, some are really good. So don't deny help when it's offered to you."  
  
Spike frowned at her.  
  
"So we're supposed to accept help from people when we know that they might betray us at any second, and that they're probably spreading out information about what we're doing and planning to the enemy?"  
  
"William, William. Always so fast to judge. You might be surprised of how much these people here could help you-there is the possibility that they might be the ones making you loose, but you don't know that, do you? But I can't decide what you shall do." She gave him a warm smile before getting up from her chair. "Excuse me, I'm just going to open the door for my niece and your friends."  
  
Spike looked at her puzzled.  
  
"There is no one there, I can't here anyone," he said.  
  
Anna laughed before opening the door, and at that moment a car became visible further down the road.  
  
"Patients, William, patients," she said.  
  
  
  
TBC 


	6. chapter 6

Chapter 6 -Impatiens and negativity = Bad things.  
  
The cafeteria was bright and had pale blue walls, and big windows. The small tables that was spread out in the large room all had a vase with beautiful flowers in them and almost all of the tables where already taken. It was quite an opposite with what they'd seen before in the building. Xander and Anya sat next to Nils at a table in one of the corners, just in front of a window, giving them a perfect view of the yard outside. It was now hidden under snow, but the many leafless trees and bushes indicated that it was quite beautiful during the summer.  
  
They had been sitting there for at least twenty minutes, and all their attempts at getting Nils to talk about the grave matters that had brought them there had failed.  
  
Xander had found himself almost starting to like the place, even though it was very cold --the warm coffee and the delicious cookies were definitely a plus.  
  
Finally the Swede decided that it was time to talk.  
  
"All right, let's get to business, shall we? I hear you've just come from America. Sunnydale to be more exact, if I'm not mistaken."  
  
Xander and Anya nodded in response and waited for him to continue. Nils smiled his polite smile and took a sip from his coffee.  
  
"You have closed the Hellmouth there haven't you? The council told us some things about what you have accomplished over there, but not very much. We've been on a 'Need to know' basis all along, I'm afraid."  
  
Xander was hesitant about telling a complete stranger about what they'd done in the past, but unfortunately, Anya wasn't.  
  
"Yes, that's right! We've been really busy. I wasn't around at the time they closed the hellmouth, only Buffy, Xander and some others where."  
  
Nils nodded and gazed at her curiously.  
  
"Buffy? Is she that Slayer I've heard about?" he asked.  
  
"Yep," Anya replied. "All super strength and all that."  
  
"Anya!" Xander whispered. "We don't know him, don't tell him anything before we know more about this place."  
  
Anya scowled at him.  
  
"Who died and made you the boss? I thought Buffy was the one calling all the shots here," she said harshly.  
  
Xander groaned and rolled his eyes.  
  
"Look, soldier boy. This is the deal. You tell us what we need to hear, and we tell you something about us, okay?" he said sternly.  
  
Nils shrugged and didn't seem at all affected by Xanders bad mood.  
  
"Sure. What do you what to know?" he said.  
  
Xander looked at him surprised, not expecting things to go that easily.  
  
"All right, who's the boss around here?" he asked.  
  
"My brother," Nils replied. "Marcus. He decides who goes where, and does what. He also takes care of the economic parts of this organization. Unfortunately we don't get this place for free we have to survive on the money we get from the more wealthy people around here that pays us for protecting their property and the aid we get from the council. They have been a huge help."  
  
"What?" Anya exclaimed. "You get money from the council? Why don't I get money from them, Xander? I help them too."  
  
Her ex-fiancé rolled his eyes and ignored her.  
  
"When did you start this place?" he asked.  
  
Nils thought about it for a moment before answering.  
  
"My brother was about to start a firm that would rent out security guards and things like that about five months ago, and about the same time small children started disappearing, the police had no clue about what had happened to them. Then rumors about mystical creatures that had been seen in the woods began to spread, and a woman living in the outskirts of the town began telling stories about something called a Hellmouth. "At first no one believed her, but then one day a whole family was slaughtered in their home. There was no way a human being could have done it, they where totally drained from blood and they had small wounds on their necks. That was the first time I actually began to believe in the rumours, and I visited the woman. She told me that vampires and demons existed, and if we didn't do anything about it, we would all die. Shortly afterwards the council contacted my brother, and he and a man from the council began training his employees at killing vampires and demons."  
  
Anya and Xander had been listening closely at what Nils had been telling them.  
  
"How many are you?" Anya asked after a while.  
  
"Last we counted we where almost fifty, but I imagine we're a little less now. We've had casualties."  
  
"What? Your soldiers met some vamp that was to strong for them, or something?" Xander said bitingly.  
  
Nils sighed in annoyance, clearly starting to get enough of Xander.  
  
"We're not soldiers, we are just people trying to protect our family's and friends form danger."  
  
"Fine," Xander said. "Whatever you say."  
  
Anya rolled her eyes and leaned in closer to the blond.  
  
"This is a more personal question, when you say family, does that include a wife, or maybe a girlfriend.?" she asked softly.  
  
Xander stared at her in shock.  
  
"Anya! What the hell are you doing? You can't flirt with this guy, you've just met him, he can be some sort of demon freak that is just pretending to be on our side so that he can eat us for desert later!"  
  
"Thank you very much for the vote of confidence," Nils said angrily to Xander. Then he turned to Anya and his expression and voice changed. "And no, I'm single."  
  
Anya smiled at him and leaned even closer.  
  
"You want to eat dinner with me later or something, after Xander's left I mean," she asked.  
  
Xander gasped for air and looked at her in disbelief.  
  
"Your doing this to make me jealous, aren't you? Please god, say you are!" he said.  
  
The vengeance demon punched him on the arm mildly, but hard enough to bruise.  
  
"You really are self-centered, aren't you? I am SO over you, Xander."  
  
Xander got up from his chair violently, drawing the attention of all the others in the cafeteria.  
  
"Fine! You can flirt with anyone you want, I don't care." Then he stalked out of the room angrily, leaving Anya alone with Nils.  
  
They sat in an uncomfortable silence for a long while before Nils finally said something.  
  
"So, I'm guessing the two of you have some history?" he said hesitantly.  
  
~*~  
  
Willow sat in the backseat listening to what Alexandra and Giles were talking about. She was hungry, even though they'd just left a café-he hadn't been able to eat one bit. Here mind was racing between the past and the present. She could see images of Tara as clearly as if her lover had been sitting next to her, but at the same time she could hear the soft and melodic voice of the blond girl sitting in front of her in the car talking to Giles.  
  
"God, what should I do?" she asked herself, not realizing that she'd said it out load until Giles turned to her.  
  
"Do about what?" he asked. "Something wrong?"  
  
Willow looked at him unsure what to say- from the moment she'd laid eyes on Alexandra her mind had been running back and forth, leaving her confused.  
  
"Nothing," she mumbled before blushing. "I was just thinking."  
  
Giles looked at her oddly before returning to the Swedish girl driving the car.  
  
"Is it much further to you're ant?" he asked.  
  
Alexandra thought about it for a minute.  
  
"No, we should be there within five minutes at most. Just be patient."  
  
The Watcher nodded absently and seemed to be deep in thought. From that moment they where all silent until they arrived at Anna's house.  
  
Willow admired the small house, it looked very neat and homey.  
  
"Do you live her too?" she asked Alexandra.  
  
The girl smiled at her as she got out of the car.  
  
"No, I moved out last year. But I still visit as often as I can, this will always be my favorite place."  
  
"I can understand that," Willow said softly.  
  
A woman Willow hadn't noticed before walked up to them and greeted Alexandra with a hug. The witch thought she looked very young until she saw her eyes, they looked like they'd seen more then you could ever imagine and where very wise.  
  
"Hello, my dear witch. I've been expecting you," she said to Willow. Her smile was very pleasant, and Willow found herself immediately liking the woman.  
  
"Hi, I'm guessing you're Anna?" she replied, shaking the outstretched hand.  
  
Anna nodded before turning to Giles.  
  
"And you my dear Watcher, you are late," she said to him with a serious tone.  
  
"I beg you're pardon?" Giles said confusedly.  
  
Anna gave him a warm-less smile and motioned them to follow her inside.  
  
"I have coffee and cookies," she said with her back turned to them. "You're friends are waiting inside."  
  
It took Willow a while to understand who the seer meant, but then she remembered.  
  
"Oh, they're still here? Did you tell them anything that could be of help to us?" she asked.  
  
"I might, but only if they choose to do as I've advised," she answered.  
  
Alexandra laughed and grabbed Willow in the arm.  
  
"That's my aunt, never with the straight, simple answers."  
  
Willow couldn't help but giggle and by the time she and the Swedish girl came into the kitchen they where joking and laughing, not at all depresso- Willow.  
  
"Hi guys," Dawn said cheerfully, getting up from her seat and walking up to the newcomers. She gave Willow a meaningful smile as she said hello to Alexandra. The witch choose to ignore her.  
  
"What have you found out, Buffy?" Giles asked in a serious tone, clearly stating that now's the time for business.  
  
The Slayer sighed and toyed with her cup.  
  
"Just a whole lot of 'Be patient' and 'What you do now will affect the whole future'," she said irritated. "I was hoping for some 'Do this, and all be okay', but I never have such luck."  
  
Anna gave her a stern gaze, clearly not pleased with how Buffy put the things she'd said.  
  
"If you wouldn't have been so negative and impatient you might have seen a lot of clear advises in what I told you, I can only hope that William and your sister wasn't as rash at dismissing it."  
  
A hint of guilt passed over Buffy's expression, but only for a moment. It was quickly replaced with irritation. She would have said some harsh comeback if Spike hadn't laid a hand on her arm to soothe her. She saw that all her friends where looking at her in annoyance, tired of her bickering.  
  
"Fine!" she said, giving up. "Anyone protests if I go for a walk, I need some fresh air. Then maybe all you Patient and Positive people could stay here and continue asking questions to the immortal fortuneteller that won't give me any simple answers."  
  
Nobody had time to respond before she was gone.  
  
  
  
TBC 


	7. chapter 7

Chapter 7 - Feelings  
  
Nils looked at the beautiful woman sitting opposite of him in his office. She was reading a file about people that had gone missing in the last few months, mostly children. Nils had written it himself and he knew almost every sentence in the whole thing. He could see how a frown started to build up in Anya's face, and decided that it was time to break her attention from the horrible reading.  
  
"What's up between you and Xander?" he asked curiously, not coming up with any other subject. But he really wanted to know that, since he needed to know if he had a chance with this woman.  
  
She sighed and put down the papers on the desk.  
  
"Nothing at the moment, but we used to be engaged."  
  
Nils looked away disappointed.  
  
"But you want to be together with him again, don't you?" he asked.  
  
Anya stared at him in shock.  
  
"Not a chance! He left me at the altar, I could never forgive him for that," she exclaimed.  
  
"You sure?" Nils asked hesitantly. "Because I thought I saw quite a lot of emotions between you two."  
  
Anya shrugged.  
  
"There's a lot of other feelings then love. Sure, Xander will always hold a place in my heart, but I wouldn't want us to be more then friends. And I think he feels the same, especially since I'm a demon again, he's having some trouble accepting that."  
  
Nils stared at her in shock and horror and unconsciously backed away from her.  
  
"What did you just say?" he asked with a high voice. "You, a demon?"  
  
She looked at him surprised.  
  
"Oh, sorry. I though that you already knew that. Yep, Anyanka the vengeance demon, that's me."  
  
Now Nils consciously backed away.  
  
"Vengeance demon? What kind of demon is that?" he asked.  
  
"The kind that takes vengeance," Anya replied matter of factly. "That's a problem for you?"  
  
Not sure what to do, Nils shook his head and started toying with the pencil in his hand nervously.  
  
"NO, no. Of course not. I'm just surprised, that's all," he said, not very convincing.  
  
Anya shrugged again and got up from her chair.  
  
"Okay, that's great. But I think I better get going now, I want to check out this city." she said and waved him goodbye.  
  
"Yes, yes. Okay, bye," Nils stammered, and the second she was out the door, he reached for his phone. "Leta reda på allt som finns att veta om demoner som heter 'vengeance demons'," (Find everything that is possible about demons celled Vengeance demons), he said.  
  
~*~  
  
Spike increased his pace so that he could walk beside her. They walked in silence for a while before she spoke.  
  
"I'm just so tired of not knowing what to do," Buffy said. "It's so frustrating. I was hoping that she could give me some straight answers so that I could make sure that the Hellmouth would remain closed and go home."  
  
Spike nodded and took her hand in his to comfort her.  
  
"I know. But things never is that easy."  
  
She sighed and stopped to sit down on a bench at the side of the road. It was very dark and she was freezing in the cold wind. Soon Spike sat beside her doing his best to warm her, even though it was hard when he was so cold himself.  
  
"Come on Slayer, you've fought worse things then this. You've closed an Hellmouth before, you've sent someone you loved to hell, you've lost you're mother and you've died. But still here you are, and only days ago I think you where happy."  
  
She looked up at him with a frown.  
  
"Happy?" she said. "No, I wasn't happy. I can't ever be happy, it's my curse. It's like someone up there has decided that no happiness is allowed for Buffy Anne Summers. My life sucked less, that was all."  
  
Spike nodded again and put one arm around her shoulders. At first it looked like she was about to shrug it off, but then she leaned against him and closed her eyes.  
  
"I wish my life could be simple again," she whispered, almost to quiet for him to hear.  
  
"Like before you died, or maybe before Joyce died?" he asked curiously.  
  
She shook her head.  
  
"No, before I became a Slayer, when my parents where still together. My biggest concern then was which lipstick matched the shirt I was wearing. Now I have to raise a teenage girl, and I have trouble getting enough money to buy food. I have no job, and I dropped out from college. And here I am, in a country I know hardly anything about, to save people I've never met, and I'm held by a vampire. I say my life couldn't get more complicated."  
  
He swallowed uncertainly trying to make his voice sound confident.  
  
"I could leave, if you want," he whispered in her ear, hoping she would say no. But to his disappointment she nodded.  
  
"Maybe that would be best," she said while getting up from the bench. "The sun's coming up, we should get back to the hotel."  
  
"Yes, I guess you're right," he agreed sadly, following her towards the little house where their friends where waiting for them.  
  
  
  
~*~  
  
Willow watched the seer closely as they waited for Buffy and Spike to return. She could see that there was something more that Anna wanted to tell but for some reason couldn't.  
  
"What's with the depresso-seer?" she asked humorously, but not really that amused.  
  
"Huh? What?" Anna asked confused. "Depressed? I'm not depressed, I'm just tired."  
  
Willow looked at her suspiciously.  
  
"I thought you said that you didn't sleep," she said nonplussed.  
  
Anna looked down guiltily for a second.  
  
"Yes, right. Bad cover, there," she said apologetically.  
  
Willow gave her a tight smile, trying to look friendly.  
  
"You know, I've heard that I'm a great listener. It's always good to get the things that bother you out in the open," she said cheerfully.  
  
Anna smiled back thankfully.  
  
"Thanks, but I can't. If I would tell you, I would disrupt the balance."  
  
Willow sighed.  
  
"That must be pretty hard, the whole being in the middle thing. It must be very lonely."  
  
Anna shrugged.  
  
"Nah, I have Alex, don't I? But yes, it is hard. Sometimes all I want is just to use my visions to save people, but then I remember that if I did that, even more people would die."  
  
She swallowed hard and smiled lovingly at her niece that had just walked up to them.  
  
"Don't think so much about it, An, there is no use. And total chaos wouldn't exactly help the Slayer to save people. This is you're job, and you've been doing it perfectly for the last two-thousand years, give or take a century," Alexandra said, squeezing her hand.  
  
"Thank you," Anna whispered back. Then she looked at Willow seriously. "Just remember what I told you about the traitor. It will be someone that you would never expect. But this person won't do it out of hate, but out of love. And only love will save you all, and the world. Remember that."  
  
"I will," Willow replies sternly. "Thank you."  
  
Anna smiled.  
  
"You're welcome."  
  
~*~  
  
Giles couldn't help but feel guilty as he saw the young people who where sitting next to him in his car. Willow with her thoughtful expression, probably thinking about Tara, or maybe the girl she'd met earlier, Alexandra. Behind her in the backseat, Spike sat. Giles could see how he did his best looking at Buffy without it being too obvious. They'd probably had had a fight earlier after they'd disappeared from Anna's house. And Dawn staring straight ahead with an unhappy expression, probably thinking about all the things in her life that was so unfair. And then there was Buffy. His Slayer, who always had been so full of life, but now she was only a shell of her former self. She was looking out the window without actually seeing anything, and her eyes where filled with tears that wouldn't fall. God, he would do anything for her, if he thought that it was necessary. But in the last couple of months he'd started to realize that there wasn't really that much he could do. To her --and to the others also-- he was just a middle-aged Englishman that visited them for a while and held quite a lot of knowledge, but not really an important part of their lives anymore. Not as he had been before at least.  
  
He would give anything to be able to help her out, to give her some extra money and give her advice. But he knew it was useless. She was to proud to take anymore money then she'd only taken, and even though she would listen to the advice's she probably wouldn't follow them. So he'd found another way to make things right again. But it was going to be hard, and some of her friend's maybe wouldn't make it, but that was a sacrifice he would have to make. As long as everything ended up as he'd planned it to. As it was supposed to.  
  
~*~  
  
  
  
Anna watched as her niece danced around in the kitchen, singing happily. She sighed as she thought about how short Alexandra's happiness would last. But she didn't want to ruin her niece's mood, not when she was so happy.  
  
'Damn you, Rupert Giles,' she thought. 'Damn you.'  
  
  
  
~*~  
  
Dawn sat in her room reading. Nothing else to do really, watching TV when you don't understand one word that is said soon looses its appeal. But the book was kind of good, though. All with the vampires and stuff. But as soon as she saw a certain peroxide blond head in the doorway she hid the book. But not fast enough.  
  
"You know that's just a load of bollocks, don't you 'bit? That Anne Rice chick don't know a thing about the undead," he said while sitting down on a chair next to her bed.  
  
"Yeah, you're probably right," Dawn agreed quickly, placing the book on a shelf. "Was it anything special you wanted?" she asked curiously.  
  
Spike leaned back and smiled at her playfully.  
  
"Since when do I need a reason to talk to my niblet?" he asked.  
  
Dawn shrugged and looked away sadly.  
  
"I just mean. Well, you and me haven't been talking for real for at least. A very long time. Not since before Buffy got back, I think."  
  
Spike thought about it for a moment before changing his place so that he sat next to her on the bed instead.  
  
"Dawn," he began softly. "You know that I'm always here for you, right? Buffy and me, it's complicated. But what goes on between me and your sister shouldn't affect our friendship."  
  
Dawn nodded and gave him a hug.  
  
"I know that. But you left because of her. You left and were gone a long time. I know what you did, and I think that it was very wrong. But you didn't have to leave. And then you came back and where all." She looked at him hesitantly.  
  
Spike laughed.  
  
"It's okay, you can say it, I was insane. A total loony."  
  
"Okay, you where insane. But then when you started to get better, you still avoided me," she said sadly.  
  
Spike looked at her in surprise.  
  
"Avoided you? I didn't do that! I would never avoid you, lil'bit. I might have been avoiding Buffy, but not you."  
  
Dawn gave him a nervous smile.  
  
"You promise?" she asked quietly.  
  
Spike gave her a hug and got up from the bed.  
  
"Yes, I promise. And don't you ever forget that you can talk with me about anything. You can trust me," he said softly, smiling gently.  
  
But Dawn looked away from him.  
  
"You said that Buffy could trust you too," she whispered before running out of the room, leaving a sad and guilty Spike behind.  
  
"I know," he whispered after her.  
  
  
  
~*~  
  
Buffy slowly got up from her place next to Dawns doors after she'd made sure that her sister was out of sight. She quietly sighed and turned to the vampire that was leaning against the wall. Feelings of sympathy and sorrow washed over her as she saw her former lover trying to fight back the tears in his eyes.  
  
"Are you okay?" she asked softly, sitting down next to him.  
  
Spike shrugged and looked up at her.  
  
"I'm as okay as I deserve," he whispered, his voice cracking.  
  
Buffy smiled and put one hand on his shoulder to comfort him. He quickly pulled back and she looked at him confused.  
  
"What is it?" she asked, afraid he'd gone back to the state he'd been in when he'd first come back. But to her relief he seemed to be quite sane, although very tired.  
  
"'S nothing," he answered. "I just don't like being touched. that's all."  
  
Buffy gave him a worried look.  
  
"Why?" she asked. "Just a couple of hours ago you where holding me, and now you don't want to e touched at all. Talk about mood swings."  
  
Spike sighed and turned away from her.  
  
"It's complicated," he whispered. "Earlier I was wrong, I let myself forget what I've done, not only to you, but all those people I've killed. I can't forget. I WON'T forget. If I do, who says I wont go back out there and do the same again?" he said, on the verge of tears.  
  
"The chip would stop you, you know that," Buffy said, doing her best to sound supporting. "And what brought this on? Was it what Dawn said about trust?"  
  
Now the tears where falling with what seemed like no end. She couldn't help but wish that she could reach out to him, and wipe them of his face, but that would be wrong. It was enough that she'd already kissed him, twice, and she didn't want him to get the wrong idea. Yes she had feelings for him, feelings that kept getting stronger, but she didn't love him. It would be cruel to get his hoped up and then leave him, again. God, she had really treated him badly before. But that was before the soul, he was different now.  
  
"I need to be alone," Spike said quietly, shakily getting up from the floor. Before she had time to respond he was gone.  
  
"I'm sorry," she whispered after him, wishing she could go after him and tell him exactly what she felt for him, but she couldn't. She wasn't even sure herself of her feelings.  
  
TBC 


	8. chapter 8

Chapter 8  
  
"Oh my God," Dawn breathed out as she walked out of the hotel to get some fresh air. She hadn't thought that it would be so cold. And from what she'd heard it would get worse. Shaking she sat down on a bench close to the wall and rubbed her hands against her arms to get some warmth.  
  
"That never helps," someone said next to her. Surprised she turned around and saw a guy walking towards her.  
  
"Who are you?" she asked. "And how did you know that I don't speak Swedish?"  
  
He smiled and she couldn't help but stare at the lean brunette with clear blue eyes. Something about his smile made her stomach do flips.  
  
"I'm Simon. My dad owns the hotel, and I've seen you a couple of times."  
  
He smiled even wider, and Dawn was thankful that she was already sitting.  
  
"So, what do you want?" She grimaced and blushed. "That came out wrong, I just mean. Well, what do you want?"  
  
Simon laughed and sat down on the bench next to her.  
  
"I saw you sitting her and you seemed to be upset. I was just curious, and also I thought I could maybe cheer you up." he said softly.  
  
Dawn blushed again, and she had no doubt that her face looked like a tomato.  
  
"I'm not upset," she said, not very convincing. "I just wanted some fresh air."  
  
He looked at her jacket that wasn't even close to as warm as it should be and then at her bare hands.  
  
"Here," he said, giving her his gloves. "Take these, it's far to cold to be without."  
  
Dawn took them thankfully.  
  
"Thanks, that's really sweet of you. But won't you get cold now?"  
  
"No, I'm used to it, I barely even feel the cold anymore," he said in a tough voice, before shuddering. "Okay, yes I will. That's why I'm about to suggest that we should go inside. But I'm afraid that you will say no, and that you don't want to hang out with me. I'm a little shy, you see," he said, totally trying to charm her. And it was working.  
  
"You, shy?" Dawn asked laughing. "I'm sorry, but nothing you've done so far makes me think you're shy, more like the opposite."  
  
Simon chuckled and got up.  
  
"Okay, you got me. I'm not shy at all, but don't tell anyone, since I might have to kill you if you do," he joked.  
  
This made Dawns smile fade away. This guy seemed to be perfectly normal, but on the Hellmouth you can never be too careful. A joke like that could turn out not being a joke at all.  
  
"Right, I wont," she said uncertainly. "And yes, I will go with you inside," she added after some hesitation.  
  
"Great, 'cause shy or not, I was getting nervous that you would say no," he said while getting up.  
  
Dawn giggled and took his outstretched arm. None of them saw Giles standing next to one of the trees watching them. As they'd disappeared into the house, he took the bag that was beside him and walked up to the house.  
  
"I'm terribly sorry that I'll have to do this to you, Dawn," he whispered out in the cold air, making an old woman stare at him oddly. Ignoring her he walked into the hotel and made his way up to his room to hide away the things he'd bought during his time out.  
  
~*~  
  
After trying to ignore Buffy's stares since they'd arrived at he café half an hour earlier Willow finally gave up.  
  
"Okay, Buffy, what's it about? I have something between my teeth?"  
  
Buffy made her best innocent expression and shrugged.  
  
"I don't know what your talking about, and no, you're teeth are fine," she said, not really meeting Willows gaze.  
  
Willow rolled her eyes and started to get up.  
  
"What are you doing?" her friend asked. "You're leaving? Why?"  
  
Willow did her best to look grim.  
  
"Well, since you don't want to talk to me, I think I might just do that," she said.  
  
Buffy sighed.  
  
"All right, all right. I was just wondering about. I mean, I was curious. You and Alex seemed to really, you know. hit it off?"  
  
Willow laughed and sat down again.  
  
"I thought that was it. And what's with the not just asking me? Since when don't we tell each other everything about who we are interested in?" She smiled softly at her friend, really meaning her words. But Buffy cringed unhappily.  
  
"Since like, always. Remember, me not telling you about Angel being back, and me not telling you about the whole thing between Spike and me? And I wasn't sure about how you would react if I suggested anything about you and Alex, 'cause of the Tara thing." Buffy looked around uncomfortable.  
  
Willow sighed and took her best friends hand.  
  
"You know that you can tell me anything, and I feel like I can tell you anything too. And yes, I do miss Tara, very much. But I have to move on-- she would have wanted me to do that. I can't just sit up in my room crying all day, I've tried that, and I promise you, not fun."  
  
Buffy giggled, relieved that the tension had gone away.  
  
"So, then I ask again, what's up with you and Alex?"  
  
Willow blushed slightly and smiled in a way she hadn't smiled since Tara died.  
  
"Ohm I don't know. It's just. Well, when she's near me, it's almost like when I was with Tara-almost. I will always miss Tara, and no one can ever take her place, but Alexandra gives me these vibes. It's like." Willow started playing with her cup nervously and looked down shyly. "I don't know, I barely even know her, I'm probably just going crazy or something."  
  
Buffy couldn't help but laugh happily and give her best friend a hug.  
  
"God, I can't believe it. This is just great, Will. You meeting someone new, Xander and Anya actually talking again, even though I've heard some things about Anya and a military guy, and Dawn don't seem to be as unhappy as before."  
  
Willow nodded enthusiastically, but then her positive-ness faded.  
  
"But what about what Anna said, about one of us dying? And the whole pain thing, not of the good," she said sadly.  
  
"No!" Buffy said determinedly. "That's not going to happen, I'm going to make sure of it we'll find a way to stop it."  
  
Willow nodded and hoped silently that she was right.  
  
~*~  
  
"You're not going to survive this, you brown thing-y! I'm going to eat you whole, and I'm going to enjoy it."  
  
Dawn giggled and reached for her hamburger.  
  
"So you're just going to eat the brown part? What you're gonna do with the rest. I mean, the tomatoes might be easy to remove, but the cheese. tricky."  
  
Xander rolled his eyes and took a big bite of his hamburger. As he did so all of the stuff in it fell out, most of it on the plate, but some on his shirt. Annoyed he tried to get it off with a napkin, ignoring the laughter that he got from the two teenagers sitting next to him.  
  
"You're just spreading it out," Simon observed. "That's never going to work."  
  
"What he said," Dawn said, doing her best just to breath between giggles.  
  
Xander sighed and got up from his chair.  
  
"I better go clean up, and get a new shirt. See you later, kids," he said while walking away.  
  
"You think he got mad at us?" Simon asked curiously.  
  
Dawn smiled and moved her chair closer to his.  
  
"Nah, he's just cranky 'cause his ex met another guy, I think he's jealous."  
  
Simon smiled back and moved closer to her too.  
  
"Yeah? Too bad for him then."  
  
Dawn was still smiling widely, not really interested in their conversation, just him.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
~*~~*~  
  
Buffy smiled as she watched her little sister eating lunch with the young guy in the cafeteria. She had of course heard around, trying to find out if it was something suspicious about the boy, but she hadn't found a thing. That was a relief.  
  
Suddenly she felt the tingling feeling she got every time a vampire was nearby, and she had no doubt of whom it was. Quickly she stepped into the shadows and watched him. She really didn't want to talk with him until she'd figured out what she felt for him.  
  
Spike was standing at the same spot she had been at only moments ago, watching Dawn and her date pensively. She couldn't help but smile at his obvious concern for her sister.  
  
"You're gonna stand there and stare at me all day or what?" he suddenly asked, not taking his eyes away from Dawn.  
  
Buffy blushed slightly and walked out into the light again.  
  
"I should have realized that you could see me," she said, feeling a little silly for doing what she'd done.  
  
Then he finally turned his head towards her and smiled affectionately.  
  
"Didn't see you, I felt you," he said softly.  
  
Buffy didn't know what to answer to that. When she didn't say anything he sighed and walked up to her.  
  
"So what's the story about this kid with the niblet?" he asked curiously, with a hint of concern.  
  
Buffy shrugged.  
  
"He seems okay. I talked to one of the woman that works here, she told me that he is a very nice and responsible young man." She smiled. "That was her words, not mine. Actually, she said more, but telling you all the positive things she told me about Simon would take all day. It felt more like she was trying to sell me something then tell me about someone."  
  
Spike chuckled and leaned closer to her.  
  
"It feels good to see you smiling again," he said softly. "I couldn't bare it if you where as unhappy as you where before, when you'd just been brought back."  
  
This made Buffy back away.  
  
"What, you think I should have been all happy and thankful for being back?" she asked offensively.  
  
Spike rolled his eyes and sat down on the couch that was standing by the wall.  
  
"That wasn't what I meant, and you know it. I was just saying that I'm glad that you're finally happy."  
  
"I wouldn't really call me happy," she murmured, to quiet even for Spike to her with his vampire hearing.  
  
"What?" he asked confusedly.  
  
She sighed and started walking towards the stairs and her room.  
  
"Nothing," she said with her back turned. "I'm going up to see Giles now, I see you later."  
  
Spike didn't say anything and turned back so that he could see what Dawn and Simon where doing. No matter what Buffy said about the boy, he had a gut feeling that there was something odd about him.  
  
~*~  
  
"No, I guarantee that everything will o according to plan," Giles said impatiently to someone. "Yes I know there has been some delays, but you can't expect me to be able to do this without them suspecting anything in just one or two days." He paused for a while to listen to what the person on the other end of the line was saying. "That's ridiculous. You know very well that I can do this, and anyone saying I can't really don't know me at all." He sighed and listened once more. "Yes, that's going just as planned, nothing to worry about there, I saw them together only ten minutes ago eating lunch. The boy is doing his job very well." Giles paused again when he heard something outside his door. "I have to go, there is someone here. I'll call you if there is any progress. Good bye."  
  
He hung up the phone and walked to the door. As he opened it he saw Buffy quickly walking away.  
  
"Buffy!" he called out after her before running down the hall in the direction she'd gone.  
  
~*~  
  
She didn't know what to think. One moment she'd been trying to push Spike out of her thoughts by going to see Giles, and then she'd heard her former Watcher speak to someone about some kind of plan. Some plan that seemed to involve Dawn and Simon. She barely even noticed it when Giles caught up with her.  
  
"Buffy," he pleaded. "Stop for a moment and talk to me."  
  
She stopped and turned towards him. For some reason she couldn't explain her eyes was filled with tears threatening to fall and she was shaking.  
  
"Talk about what? This secret plan that you haven't told me about, or the strange things I heard you say about my sister and Simon?"  
  
Giles sighed and took her hand and lead her to a couch.  
  
"I know that it might have sounded strange to hear all that, but I can assure you that I was going to tell you about the plan when the time was right," he said, while desperately trying to come up with a good explanation for what she had heard.  
  
Luckily Buffy seemed to have calmed down and she was now looking up at him with the same trust he'd gotten used to seeing in her eyes. The thought that this might be one of the last times really grieved him.  
  
"Tell me now, Giles," she said resolutely.  
  
"All right," he said with a sigh. "Look, things really aren't as they seemed when you heard me on the phone. There is no big secret plan really, I just wanted you all to get settled in before I filled you in on the whole situation."  
  
Buffy stared at him, not sure what to think.  
  
"But what was that thing about my sister and Simon?" she asked sternly, not wanting to drop it yet.  
  
After a moment of fast thinking Giles gave her his answer.  
  
"I'm sorry Buffy, but I thought that Dawn might be lonely here and I talked to the hotel owner if he knew any nice young people around here. And luckily, he had a son in Dawn's age. I just pushed the boy into the right direction."  
  
He looked at Buffy, not sure if she'd bought his explanation. To his chagrin she seemed to be having trouble believing him.  
  
"But who was it on the phone just now that was wondering about them? I can't believe that my sister's love life can be of anyone else's interest?"  
  
"It was a member of the council," Giles quickly responded. "I'd told him about Dawn before we left, and he was just wondering how'd it gone."  
  
Finally Buffy seemed to relax and he exhaled in relief.  
  
"Okay, but I still think it's a little strange that you discuss things like that with a stranger," she said hesitantly. "I better go, I promised Willow I'd meet her before dinner."  
  
Giles nodded and followed her down the hall towards the stairs.  
  
"Yes of course. I'll see you at dinner then."  
  
"Yes," Buffy said with a smile before disappearing down the stairs.  
  
~*~  
  
Willow was sitting by a computer in the library as she saw Buffy approaching. She looked like she was deep in thought, so Willow turned off the computer to be able to give her friend her whole attention.  
  
"What's up?" she asked curiously, getting worried.  
  
Buffy slowly sat down beside the witch and started toying with a pen nervously.  
  
"I think something's wrong with Giles," she finally said. "He was acting all weird before."  
  
Willow straightened in her seat and looked at her friend curiously.  
  
"Weird? How? Did he like, burst on fire or something?" she asked.  
  
Buffy gave her a surprised look.  
  
"What? Where did you get that idea? No, he did not burst on fire, but he had a very strange discussion with someone on the phone. I overheard him talking to someone about some plan that they had for us, and that we were running late. And then they started talking about Dawn and Simon."  
  
"Simon, who?" Willow asked.  
  
Buffy suddenly recalled that Willow hadn't heard about Dawn's date yet. Which was kind of remarkable since Dawn hadn't been able to stop talking about him since that morning.  
  
"Dawn met a guy this morning, while we where at that café. He seems really nice, at least I thought so until I heard Giles talk about him doing a good job, eating lunch with Dawn. It was like someone had ordered Simon to talk to her. But Giles said that he had just encouraged him because he wanted Dawn to meet new friends, but something about it just isn't right. I don't know for sure, but I think Giles is doing something that he doesn't want me to know about."  
  
Willow stared at Buffy in disbelief. Giles being up to something bad? Was this like another dimension or something?  
  
"You sure?" she asked uncertainly.  
  
Buffy shook her head and sighed.  
  
"No, but it's just a feeling I got. The explanation he gave me wasn't entirely convincing. I hate to say this, but I think we should keep an eye on him."  
  
Willow didn't know what to think. This was Giles for God's sake. He was like the most responsible person ever, and he never did anything bad.  
  
"You think he's the traitor, don't you?" she asked uneasily, hoping no to get the answer she was expecting.  
  
After taking a deep breath, Buffy nodded slowly.  
  
"I'm starting to think so, yes. Anna told us that there would be a traitor. But I'm hoping I'm wrong. I really am."  
  
~*~  
  
Willow couldn't believe what Buffy had told her. There was no way. She glanced at Giles, the man she had looked up to since the first time she met him in the high school library. He man who had all the answers, or at least was able to find them for you. The man that would do anything for Buffy, and who loved Dawn like a daughter. He would never betray them, NEVER. He was sitting there opposite her, eating his dinner while listening to Dawn talking about her date. He seemed to feel her looking at him, because he turned and gave her a smile. He chuckled slightly as Dawn said something funny that Willow didn't really catch, and all Willow could see was a nice, trustworthy man who wanted to make sure that everyone was okay.  
  
When suddenly someone placed a hand on her shoulder Willow was so surprised that she almost jumped of the chair. Turning quickly she saw Alexandra standing there with a bag over her shoulder and a friendly smile.  
  
"Hi everyone," she said. "I'm sorry to interrupt you're dinner, but I have to tell you about some things that might happen tonight."  
  
They all gave her their full attention and waited eagerly to find out what was up. They'd been there for days and they still hadn't seen any trace of vampires or demons, and they where starting to grow bored.  
  
"Anna had a vision with a lot of vampires earlier today, but that was all she told me. So I've done some research myself and I found out that there is rumours about a large group is planning to attack the hospital tonight. A man I know who supplies me with magic books told me that they are gathering as much blood as they can. I think something big is coming, and soon." She looked around the table to make sure her news had gone through.  
  
"When?" Buffy asked. "When is this going to happen?"  
  
Alex considered this for a moment.  
  
"Just after sunset, I think. From what I heard, they're in a hurry."  
  
"All right then, I say we have a night of slaying ahead of us," Xander said cheerfully, gaining odd looks from the others. "What? I'm positive, that's all. I didn't know that was a crime here."  
  
Everyone ignored him and returned to the important stuff.  
  
"So we should be going soon, then?" Dawn asked curiously.  
  
Buffy nodded and got up from her seat. Alexandra gave her a surprised look.  
  
"She's coming too? I'm sorry, but isn't she a little young for this?" she asked nervously, clearly not wanting to upset the slayer.  
  
"She's coming," was all Buffy said, before disappearing up the stairs.  
  
Soon the only ones left at the table were Alexandra and Willow.  
  
"So your a witch?" Willow asked. "Don't take this the wrong way but.. What kind of witch are you?"  
  
At first she looked a little upset, but soon her expression changed to the calm and kind front that Willow had started to get used to seeing.  
  
"You mean if I'm in to white or black magic, huh? I'm not going to lie to you, I've had some periods when my spells haven't been entirely good, but I wish to think I'm only doing white magic. What about you? My ant told me you had some problems before?" Alexandra gave her a tense look, seeming to be a little unsettled by her own question.  
  
What made Willow feel uncomfortable was not so much the question, but how she'd gotten the idea to ask from the beginning. The thought that a stranger, Anna, knew everything that had ever happened in her life was frightening. She swallowed hard and tried to remain calm. It wasn't Alex's fault.  
  
"I, uhm, had some problems before yes. My girlfriend, Tara, died." Willow didn't know how to continue. Just talking about Tara still made her eyes fill with tears.  
  
"Oh, I'm so sorry. What happened, was she in an accident?" Alex asked sympathetically.  
  
Willow swallowed again and blinked away the tears,  
  
"Yeah, I guess you could say that," she said bitterly. "A guy, Warren, was trying to kill Buffy. He had a gun, and he was shooting around. He hit Buffy in the shoulder, but she survived. But a stray bullet went through mine and Tara's bedroom window, and she got hit. She died in my arms."  
  
The blond girl yelped in surprise and Willow could see how her eyes were also starting to become filled with tears, but not from sorrow, from compassion. Of course this girl didn't feel sorrow for Tara, she hadn't even met her, she had never heard her laugh, or felt the warm feeling you got every time she smiled, Willow told herself. Still she felt angry with Alexandra, who was able to sit there and talk about Tara without almost falling apart from grief.  
  
"I think I should go and get ready," Willow said, her voice unsteady. "Buffy is probably wondering where I am."  
  
"Yes, of course," Alexandra mumbled. As Willow started to walk away, she called out after her. "But thank you for telling me this, I know it was hard. It's good talking about it, you shouldn't hold it bottled up inside."  
  
Willow nodded and continued walking away.  
  
TBC 


	9. chapter 9

Chapter 9  
  
"Dawnie, have you seen my jacket?" Buffy called out to her sister. They had a door connecting their rooms-- Buffy wanted to keep her sister close.  
  
"No," Dawn answered and walked in. "You tried under the bed?"  
  
Buffy shook her head and glanced at her.  
  
"Why would it be under the bed?" she asked disbelieving.  
  
Dawn shrugged and leaned down to look. And there it was. Triumphantly she held it up before giving it to her older sister.  
  
"You'd be surprised how many things end up there," she said. Without asking she took out a sweater from Buffys wardrobe. She put it on and waltzed out of the room.  
  
"Hey," Buffy yelled after her. "Ever heard of asking? A 'Buffy, is it okay if I borrow your sweater that you've bought only two days ago with well earned money'?"  
  
Dawn snorted and rolled her eyes.  
  
"What, you were going to say no or something?" she asked.  
  
Her older sister sighed and gave her an annoyed look.  
  
"No, but it's more polite," she said, doing her best not sounding like a bossy mother.  
  
Dawn smiled her sweetest and most innocent smile and walked out and closed the door to her room. Only seconds later the door leading out to the corridor opened and Spike walked in.  
  
"Hi Slayer, what's happening? All the scoobies are running around getting ready for something and they won't tell me what's up." He looked genuinely hurt by the fact that he was being left out, and Buffy couldn't help but feeling sorry for him. No matter what happened he would never be entirely accepted by the others, to them he would always be the freak vampire that was hanging around just because he was in love with her, the soul hadn't changed anything really.  
  
"Big group of vamps are gonna attack the hospital tonight. We think they're harvesting blood. Alexandra thinks that something's big is coming," she said, trying to sound as business like as possible.  
  
Spike shrugged and sat down.  
  
"Really? I could have told you that. I could feel that something was up the second we got here. But I thought that you already knew that." He stopped for a moment and hesitated, like he didn't want the answer for his next question. "Why didn't any of you tell me about tonight, then? I could help."  
  
Buffy wasn't sure what to say, she hadn't had even a thought about not bringing him with them, but obviously the others had other ideas. But since they hadn't told her about them, they couldn't really blame her if she didn't do as them.  
  
"Don't be silly," she said, with her most convincing voice. "Of course your coming with us, we need all the help we can get. The others were probably just in a hurry."  
  
She could see that he wasn't entirely convinced, but he nodded and got up.  
  
"Anything more I need to know before we leave?" he asked. "This Alex coming with us? I hear she's a witch."  
  
Buffy nodded.  
  
"Yeah, Willow said she seems okay."  
  
She was surprised when Spike chuckled lightly.  
  
"What?" she asked.  
  
"Nothing," he said, smiling. "It's just, I don't think Willow's the best judge when it comes to this Alex girl, you haven't felt the vibe between them?"  
  
Buffy frowned.  
  
"What you mean? Yeah, sure, Willow like's her and all, but I do think she can se if she's on the good side or not. Besides, I got the feeling they'd argued about something. She was all bad-moody earlier when she came up."  
  
Spike chuckled again before turning to the door.  
  
"When we leaving?" he asked with his back turned to her.  
  
"In an hour," she answered as he walked out. She found herself actually feeling sad about him going.  
  
~*~  
  
Xander couldn't help but grunt as he saw the vampire walking out shortly after Buffy. Willow gave him a look.  
  
"You actually thought he wouldn't come with us? The whole point with him coming to Sweden was to help with the fighting."  
  
He shrugged and threw in the bag filled with weapons into the rented car.  
  
"Whatever," he mumbled, sulking.  
  
Willow ignored him and walked up to Dawn.  
  
"And how's the lovebirds?" she asked, cheerfully. "Hear he's a real charmer."  
  
Dawn blushed looked down shyly.  
  
"Yeah. He's all right," she said, but her tone saying more.  
  
"Just all right, huh?" Willow laughed as she helped the brunette into the car.  
  
Dawn ignored her and gave Spike a greeting smile.  
  
"What's up?" she asked merrily.  
  
He shrugged and sat down next to her.  
  
"Nothing much? You? I hear you got yourself a willing slave," he said teasingly.  
  
She hit in the air with her fist infuriated. She was now truly fed up with everyone's teasing remarks. Even though she knew they didn't mean anything with it, it still annoyed her.  
  
"Yeah, yeah. He's nice. You happy now?" she said with a hint of steel in her voice.  
  
Spike smirked and made himself more comfortable in his chair.  
  
"Sure," he said, unaffected by her attitude. "No need to go all with he fury, bit."  
  
Dawn was just about to say something back when Buffy opened the door.  
  
"Time to go," the blond Slayer said as she motioned for Spike to move closer to Dawn so she could get some space. When the three of them and Anya where all seated in the backseat, Giles and Xander climbed in into the front and Giles started the car.  
  
"What about Willow?" Dawn asked, worried that the witch had been forgotten.  
  
"Alex getting her soon," Anya told her. "They needed some magic supplies, and they didn't think there was any need to bring us all with."  
  
Dawn nodded and leaned back. The backseat was a little to crowded, but Giles'd told them that it wasn't far.  
  
~*~  
  
Anna lied down on the floor panting. The vision had been unusually detailed, and it had lasted for several minutes. The pain had almost been unbearable. Bu that wasn't the worst- the worst had been the images she'd seen.  
  
Blood. And people covered in blood. She couldn't see if they where alive or not, but she had a feeling that they where still breathing, or maybe that was just her hope speaking. But the worst thing was the laughter--high evil laughter-- the kind you hear in your nightmares or maybe in a horror movie. Oh, how she wished she could just tell the Slayer and her friends how to defeat their enemies, but then the balance would be no more. It was bad enough she'd let it slip to Alexandra about the vampires in her visions earlier that day. A feeling of impending doom gripped her, and she had to stop herself a number of times not to grab the phone and call her niece to tell her to stay away from those people. But wouldn't. Her duties always came first, always.  
  
~*~  
  
"Do ya think it's close?" Dawn asked for the umpteenth time. "'Cause this place is seriously starting to freak me out."  
  
The teenager looked around at the large trees surrounding them. The only light they had was the moon reflecting in the snow and the small flashlight they'd stolen from he hotel --borrowed, if anyone asked Buffy.  
  
"A little further," Alexandra said while turning around so she could see if anyone, or anything, was following them. She and Willow had caught up with them only minutes earlier and they where now going through the forest to get to the backside of the hospital. When they cold see the first lights from the building, the Swedish girl quickly turned of the flashlight so they wouldn't be discovered.  
  
It was Spike who felt them first. They where just behind a group of trees, waiting for the right moment to break in. Without making any sounds the gang circled around them so they wouldn't be able to escape. Dawn was close to Buffy all the time, and both Anya and Xander were heavily armed with crossbows and stakes. They all assumed Alexandra would be able to handle herself.  
  
The moment Xander accidentally walked on a tree branch and made all the vampires turn in his direction like they where all one, they attacked. Buffy jumped up and kicked the closest one in the head, making him fall to the ground heavily. Before he had time o get up she had dusted him with a stake through the heart. Without stopping even for a second she turned around and punched another one in the face, shoving him into another one as Dawn pushed a stake through both of them, killing them both.  
  
Buffy gave her sister an approving grin before returning to the slaying. And all around her the others did the same. Three minutes earlier there had been twenty-two vampires, now there was only eleven left. To their defense they where all fighting really good, one actually pinning Spike to the ground for a second, but he also found himself dust shortly thereafter.  
  
When the fight seemed to be won by the scoobies, and there was only a hand full of vampires left, dozens of people ran in with stakes and awes lifted. Surprised both the scoobies and the vampires looked up.  
  
"What the hell.?" Spike muttered as one of them attacked him. Realizing they must think he was one of the bad guys, he let go of his game face and shoved the man aside, making his chip go off. While lying on the ground holding his head in his hands, he had no protection whatsoever from the unknown attackers.  
  
"Stop!", was all of a sudden heard, and everyone froze. In the midst of it all Alexandra stood with her arms lifted and her eyes glowing. Beside her Willow stood in a similar pose, motioning for Buffy and the others to come and join her. Hesitantly they walked up to her, but they could see the vampires and the other humans not being able to do so. They seemed to be unable to move at all.  
  
"What's going on?" Buffy asked confusedly. "Who are these people."  
  
"It's those army guys," Anya piped in.  
  
Everyone but Xander looked at her in surprise.  
  
"How'd you know that?" Alexandra asked.  
  
Anya rolled her eyes in annoyance.  
  
"Okay, first-- not very hard to figure out. And second-Xander and I visited their headquarters only days ago, remember? I recognize some of them."  
  
Xander nodded and pointed at a blond man.  
  
"Yeah, that's Nils. He's some kind of Big shot here. His brother's the boss."  
  
Alexandra nodded too and made a strange pattern with her hand in the air. Soon Nils was able to talk.  
  
"Let us go, witch," he said furiously.  
  
Buffy stepped out and stood between him and Alexandra.  
  
"Not until you tell us what you're doing here," she said sternly, making sure he understood that she wouldn't take any insults to any of her friends.  
  
He ignored her and stared at Anya.  
  
"What are YOU doing here?" he asked, not really surprised, more curious. "I didn't see you as the fight kind."  
  
The look on her face was that of a woman that had just been really affronted.  
  
"Oh yeah? And what kind do I look as then?" she asked insulted.  
  
Nils seemed to realize that this was not the time to get people mad at him, and he finally gave Buffy his attention.  
  
"Our business here has nothing to do with you, Slayer," he said in a cold voice. "And if I may be frank, I can't really understand what YOU are doing here, all of you. We where doing fine without you."  
  
Spike snorted and walked up to the blond man that still couldn't move a muscle, except for speaking.  
  
"You where doin' fine, huh? If we wouldn't have been here, these vamps would have already gotten what they came here for and left, if you where lucky. Face it, you guys where late, and even if you'd been here, they would have made you dinner in no time." The spiteful tone in his voice could not be miss-read.  
  
Nils stared at him in anger and everyone could see how he tried to get free from his invisible bonds. But to no success.  
  
"We've done fine for months without the help off a group of spoiled obnoxious children from America clamping in her like they own the place and taking over our town. There had barely been any killings at all for the last few weeks, and when there has been, the monster that did it has been turned to dust within hours. I say we're doing a good job without you." The last word where almost spit out of his mouth, and if the situation hadn't been so serious, it might have been kind of funny.  
  
Both Spike and Buffy where doing their best not to hit the man, well, Buffy at least, since Spike was kind of leashed because of the chip. But before any of them could do anything, Dawn stepped forward.  
  
"You're doing fine, doing good? Well that's nice and all, but wouldn't it be better if you did great? And if those few but existing number of murdered people could be saved in the future, by us? Wouldn't that be even better? I say, there can never be to much help when it comes to fighting a Hellmouth. I know I wasn't involved in the closing of the one in Sunnydale, but I've gotten the impression that it was kinda hard. And I don't want the world to be sucked into hell just because you can't share, do you?" The last question was said in a soft, almost whispering voice that only the ones close to her could hear. Nils looked confused for a moment, not knowing what to do, before he looked down in shame.  
  
"Your right," he whispered back. "I apologize."  
  
Dawn smiled victoriously and walked back to where she'd been standing before, between Spike and Buffy.  
  
"Nice work, luv," Spike whispered to her, very impressed.  
  
Her smile grew wider and she got the whole glowing look that you get when your really proud of yourself.  
  
"Oh, I know," she responded.  
  
The vampire chuckled before giving Alex a nod. She quickly waved her hand, and all of the soldiers was let loose. But the vampires still stood there, frozen to the ground.  
  
"What should we do with them?" Dawn asked.  
  
"I'm thinking chess," Xander said. Everyone turned to stare at him, perplexed. Xander gave them one of his smiles. "What they have the whole game figure thing going, and-Ah, never mind;" he said, giving up. Once again no one understood his humor.  
  
Ending their baffled stares at Xander, they returned to the problem at hand. After a short moment of thought, Buffy brought up her stake and placed herself in front of the closest vampire.  
  
"Take one each," she said to the others. "When we're all ready, you can break the spell, Alex."  
  
The witch nodded, and when all the vampires had a person ready and waiting to dust them she waved her hand once more and said something in a language no one else but her and Willow understood. Soon the air was filled with dust.  
  
"So," Buffy said, while clapping her hands together to get it of off her. "Now I say we should talk this trough, until we've reached an agreement that will prevent this sort of thing to happen again." She gave the Swedish men a deadly stare. "You with me?"  
  
No one dared to do anything but nod. "Good," she said before walking away. "We'll find you lot tomorrow then."  
  
The whole Scooby gang, including Alex, left the area.  
  
TBC  
  
A/N: I just wanna thank everyone who had reviewed my story, thank you *so much*! And one more thing, what do you all think about Alex? I'm planning to give her a bigger part of the story, so comments about her would be really appreciated. /mell 


	10. chapter 10

A/N: Thanks for all the wonderful reviews. You know who you are. *Blows kisses* /mell  
  
Chapter 10 The eyes followed her everywhere. She couldn't see them, but she felt them, like a burn slowly spreading all over her back. Everywhere she went, there they where, staring at her. She felt like she'd go crazy if she couldn't make them go away. She ran.  
  
Soon she reached what looked like a lake, but there was no water. Slowly the cold dry mud was covered in snow and ice. The ice was so blank she could see her own reflection, but underneath it was only darkness. The wind grew stronger, and she started freezing. She quickly ran to stand behind a tree to get some shielding from the wind, and then she saw it. Well, not really saw it, but she could see, and feel, that something was on the ice. It didn't really have shape; it was more like a big cloud of darkness and death that almost floated in the air. She could hear it sniffing in the air for something, wheezing. No, not something, her. The fear gripped her and she backed away, not wanting to be anywhere near the thing that was now getting closer to her. But then she couldn't move. She fought as heard as she could to lift her foot and take a step, but it was like was paralyzed. And the thing kept getting closer. When she saw it's red, glowing eyes, she screamed.  
  
~*~  
  
"Buffy," someone said loudly while shaking her quite violently in the arms. "Wake up!"  
  
She opened her eyes slowly and looked at the blond vampire sitting on the bed beside her.  
  
"What are you doing here?" she asked confusedly, breaking her arms free from his grasp to rub the sleep out of her eyes.  
  
"You where screaming," he said, as if that was the most obvious thing in the world. "I thought something was wrong."  
  
She shrugged and pulled her blanket tighter around her. The room suddenly felt awfully chilly.  
  
"Just a bad dream," she murmured. "It was nothing. Nothing at all."  
  
He looked at her, unsure what to think.  
  
"You certain that was all it was? You seemed really scared. Did you have one of your slayer dreams?" Concern for her was written all over his face.  
  
"No, I don't think so, just a bad dream," she said, sounding far more convinced then she actually was.  
  
He pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear and looked her deeply into her eyes.  
  
"You really sure?"  
  
She swallowed and nodded. 'Yeah, perfectly fine', she thought shakily. 'Just scared half to death.' But Spike seemed to be convinced. He got up slowly, reluctant to leave her alone, and then walked out of her room.  
  
With a groan she lay back down in the bed and tried to fall asleep again, even though she knew it would be pointless.  
  
~*~  
  
"There was this thing, and it followed me. It-- It sniffed in the air for me. I've never been so scared in my whole life." She shuddered at the memory of the creature.  
  
Giles put a comforting hand on her arm, almost as if to protect her from her own thoughts.  
  
"Maybe it was just a dream," he said calmly.  
  
She shook her head violently.  
  
"No, it wasn't just a dream. It was way too--way too real for that."  
  
He nodded absently. Letting go of her arm he got up and took down a book from a shelf. Slowly he started looking through it.  
  
"So, research mode?" Buffy asked tiredly.  
  
He nodded again. 'Way with the nodding', Buffy thought. She wasn't really comfortable around Giles anymore, not since that weird phone call and his obvious lies about it afterwards. Maybe it was just Anna's visions wigging her out.  
  
"You mind if I go grab some breakfast?" she asked, trying to sound like everything was okay between them.  
  
Again with the nodding. Buffy sighed and got up from the comfortable armchair she'd been sitting in for the past twenty minutes. He barely even noticed when she walked out through the door.  
  
~*~  
  
"Yeah, that was like SO cool!" Willow said enthusiastically. "The look on his face when he saw it was you, it was priceless."  
  
Alex laughed and took another peace of chocolate from the bag they where sharing.  
  
"Yes, I noticed. Nils and I have never gotten along that well."  
  
Willow glanced at her curiously.  
  
"Why? Did you turn his mom into a frog or something?" Another laugh.  
  
Alex hit her playfully on the arm, but couldn't help but laugh to.  
  
"No! We just. Never gotten along that well, no reason." Willow kept looking at her. "All tight, all right!" she caved. "I'll tell you, but promise me not to laugh." Willow quickly got herself together and gave her new friend a humorless face. "Okay. Once, in third grade, I pushed him into a garbage can 'cause he'd been teasing me about my aunt, and he got garbage all over him. All the other kids laughed and he was teased about it for days. You know, he lost a fight with a girl. Not good for the reputation. Especially not when the girl is three years younger. Since then we've fought every time we've met."  
  
The red-haired girl really tried to keep herself together, but soon she was laughing uncontrollably.  
  
"Oh laugh all you want!" Alex said, trying to sound mad, but having trouble not laughing too. "It was really traumatic."  
  
That did it, they both doubled over, laughing so much it felt like they couldn't get any air.  
  
"Ladies, ladies, what have we here?" someone all of a sudden said behind them.  
  
They both looked up, shocked at seeing the blond Swedish man standing there.  
  
"Nils," Alex said with a hint of steel in her voice. "I could ask you the same thing."  
  
He shrugged and gave Willow his most charming smile.  
  
"How do you do, miss? I don't believe we've met."  
  
She smiled back hesitantly, not sure what to think of the man. Her first impression from the night before hadn't been very good, but Anya had said lots of positive things about him. But since when had she listened to Anya anyway?  
  
"Yeah, we have. Last night, remember? I was helping Alex with that spell that kept you and your pals frozen."  
  
An expression of recognition passed over his face, but he showed no emotions.  
  
"Yes, now I remember you. You didn't say anything then, though. Must be boring being in the background like that, huh?" His smile didn't reach his eyes. A sudden chill went down her spine.  
  
"Oh, background suits me fine," she said coldly. "You know what. I see a trash can over there, you feel like taking a bath?" After a quick look around to make sure no one was watching them, she whispered some words in a strange languages and the trashcan slowly started flying towards them.  
  
Nils backed away and shot Alex a deadly glare.  
  
"That is not very funny, witch."  
  
She smiled at him, but not in any way a friendly smile.  
  
"It wasn't supposed to be either."  
  
Nils then hurried out from the room, going to search for the slayer and her watcher.  
  
~*~  
  
Spike hesitated only for a second before knocking on the door. He held the blanket over his head, protecting his skin from the dangerous sunbeams. He didn't have to wait long before the door opened.  
  
"Hi," he said in relief, before stepping inside, away from the sun. "Mind if I come in?" The last thing was said after she'd closed the door behind him.  
  
"I don't think I have any choice," Anna responded in fake annoyance. "What brings you here?"  
  
Spike shrugged and dropped the blanket on the floor.  
  
"Nothing, much. Just thought I'd pop in, look what you're doing."  
  
The seer chuckled and reached down to grab the blanker. After neatly folding it and putting it on a chair, she walked into the kitchen.  
  
"You and I both no that isn't true, William," she said seriously. "Something is bothering you."  
  
Slowly he nodded before sitting down as well.  
  
"Yeah. The Slayer's had a strange dream last night," he said with a concerned voice.  
  
"A dream, huh? Everyone has dreams. And most of them are just dreams, nothing else."  
  
He shrugged and gave Anna a pensive look.  
  
"Yeah, but I don't think this was one of them," he said sternly. "I'm thinking that something big is coming, and the Slayers picking up on it."  
  
Anna nodded absently and sighed.  
  
"You know I can't tell you anymore about that then I already have," she said, almost apologetically.  
  
Spike snorted and got up.  
  
"Yes, I know that. But isn't there any way to go around that, to bend the rules a bit?" he said while pacing back and forth.  
  
She shook her head.  
  
"No, I'm sorry," she said. After a moment of hesitation she continued. "But there is some other things I can tell you, if you want. Things that are more personal."  
  
Spike shot her a surprised look. That wasn't what he'd come to her for. Or maybe it was, because why else would he have gone her in the middle of the day, when all of the Scooby's thought he was asleep, nicking the car and not tell them where he was going? But quite frankly, he was afraid of what she would say. Afraid that she would tell him that he wouldn't have a chance with Buffy, that he'd messed it up forever that night in her bathroom. But at the same time he couldn't wait to hear what the future had in store for him and his Slayer.  
  
Anna saw his mixed emotions, and put a comforting hand on his shoulder.  
  
"Come and sit down," she said, leading him back to his chair. "Ask me anything."  
  
He sighed and thought about it for a moment. His head had been filled with questions for months, but at that exact second he had a hard time coming up with one.  
  
"Will she ever love me?" he finally asked. Hope and fear filled his eyes as he waited for Anna's response.  
  
She smiled sweetly at him, and squeezed his hand gently.  
  
"What makes you think she doesn't now?" she asked softly.  
  
The vampire took a deep breath and stared at her in shock. Not the answer he would have expected.  
  
"What you mean? She loves me now, at this minute? But why. Why won't she tell me then? If she loves me, everything could work out fine between us."  
  
He couldn't believe what he'd just been told, it was too good to be true.  
  
Anna sighed and gave him a secretive smile.  
  
"She maybe doesn't know herself yet," she suggested. "I should wait if I were you, wait and let her come to terms with her own emotions."  
  
"Will she be with me then?" he asked, hope now in his whole expression.  
  
"That hasn't been decided yet, or it's just being concealed from me for some reason."  
  
Spike slouched in his chair, not wanting to hope too much, but he couldn't help it.  
  
"Maybe I should go back," he mumbled and got up, quickly unfolding his blanket and wrapping it around him. "I see you soon, okay?"  
  
Anna smiled, happy to have been able to cheer the vampire up a bit.  
  
"Yes, you will. Good bye, William."  
  
She watched him leave with the rented car down the road, his bleached hair gleaming in the stray sunbeams that had gotten through the covers keeping the light out of the car. Smiling to herself she walked back into the house.  
  
~*~  
  
Nils was going around without any real destination in the hotel. He knew he should try to find the Slayer and her Watcher, but he couldn't work up the nerve just yet. He'd heard rumours and stories about her for months, about her strength and how she'd battled demons for years with the aid of her friends, but he had always shrugged it of, saying that whatever she and her friends could do, he and his men could do it better. But the night before had changed things. He had been truly impressed with how she and the others fought, and the fact that she had both a vampire and Alexandra helping didn't make matters any better.  
  
He felt a sudden rise of anger at the thought of Alexandra. She and her family had been feared for ages in the town, and no one had really had the guts to say anything bad about them. But there had still been talking. Gossip about her aunt not aging, and her mother being a witch. When Nils was younger he didn't believe it, but now he knew it was true. His hatred for Alexandra had no real reasons, it had just grown in the back of his head since he was a little boy. Both Nils and his brother Marcus had been thought not to get close to her--or her family. They only meant trouble.  
  
Suddenly someone walking into him interrupted his thoughts.  
  
"Vad fan håller du på me'? Kan du inte se dig for, eller?" ("What the hell are you doing? Are you blind or something?") he said aggressively, before noticing who it was. It was the vampire that had been helping the Slayer.  
  
Spike frowned at the man, and had to look up slightly to meet his gaze.  
  
"What's up with you? Woke up on the wrong side of the bed or somethin'?" Then also he noticed who he was talking to. "Ah, so it's you. How's the sudden freedom to move working for ya, hard to get used to?" Big smirk.  
  
Doing his best to look confident and not at all frightened by the vampire, Nils shrugged.  
  
"Working just fine thank you." He stretched out his right hand, making sure it wasn't shaking. "I don't believe we've been properly introduced. I'm Nils, and you are?"  
  
Spike seemed genuinely amused by the man, and he dragged it out before answering, ignoring the outstretched hand.  
  
"Spike."  
  
Nils nodded apprehensively and backed away slightly against his own will. No matter how hard he tried to look fearless, something about the vampire made him want to run away and not look back. Maybe it was the hair.  
  
"Okay, Spike. Where's the Slayer?" he asked shakily.  
  
Spike chuckled and walked up the stairs, motioning Nils to follow. Soon they where standing outside a plain, dark-brown hotel room door with the number 25 written over it. Nils was expecting Spike to just burst in without caring what anyone thought, but to his surprised the blond raised his hand and knocked softly on the door.  
  
"Pet, you in there?" he called out.  
  
A series of sounds could be heard through the door, and soon a woman said.  
  
"Come in, it's unlocked."  
  
They both walked in, Spike now looking much less intimidating, a little unsure of himself. He shot Buffy a quick glance before turning his eyes away from her completely. He looked almost shy.  
  
Suddenly Nils got other things to think about then the way the vampire was acting. The Slayer had just noticed him.  
  
"So it's you," she said, her voice bordering on a threat. "I was just about to gather up the Scoobies and go look for you."  
  
"The Scoobies?" he asked confused.  
  
She ignored him. Buffy pulled out two chairs from the small table below the window and pointed one out to him, while taking the other one herself. Spike looked unsure of what to do for a moment, before sighing heavily and leaving the room.  
  
"You two had a fight or something? Ah, that's what happens when you ally with vampires." He kept up his self-confident attitude even though he was truly frightened by the small blond woman sitting opposite him. She didn't look very dangerous, but he knew better then to underestimate her.  
  
She scowled at him.  
  
"If I were you I would be quiet and listen from now on. I'm gonna go call Giles and Willow, and then the four of us are going to have a talk, mister."  
  
~*~  
  
The voice in the telephone sighed deeply. He seemed to be disappointed.  
  
"You can't expect me to be able to do this any faster then I already am. I think Buffy's suspecting something and maybe also Willow. I can't take any risks," Giles said pleadingly. This wasn't a good time to get the voice's disapproval.  
  
"Yesss," the voice said, sounding almost like a snake. "The Ssslayer ssuspects, but if you hurry, ssshe wont figure it out in time. There isss no more time for your gamesss."  
  
Giles couldn't help but shudder at the sounds coming out of the phone. No matter how many times he spoke with the thing-- he didn't have a better word for it -- he still couldn't get used to it. More then once he'd wondered if he'd taken on more then he could handle when he established contact with it.  
  
"I will do as you ask," he said with a sigh. He knew better then to argue with it for too long. Things could go very wrong if he did. "Give me a few days."  
  
He could hear it's wheezing breath.  
  
"A few daysss? I've given you that before. But as you wisssh. You got three daysss, after that I want what you agreed to give me. Or elssse I might change my mind. "  
  
Giles swallowed painfully and nodded. Remembering it couldn't see him he cleared his throat.  
  
"Yes, yes," he whispered shakily.  
  
A soft, evil laugh was heard and then the line went dead.  
  
TBC 


	11. chapter 11

Chapter 11  
  
After Spike had exited Buffy's room he had still stayed close. He wasn't worried that Nils would hurt her, he might try but he wouldn't succeed. He just wanted to be close to her. But when he heard footsteps approaching he hid behind an opened door and watched. It was Giles.  
  
Spike got a very strange feeling as he watched the man, and he couldn't shake it off. Something was wrong, he didn't have a doubt in his mind. He listened to the watcher knocking on Buffy's door and seconds later he was let in. Slowly Spike walked closer to be able to hear what was said.  
  
"Why can't I bring them?" he heard Buffy ask. She sounded mad or maybe confused. He wasn't sure.  
  
"Because you have to do this without them, Buffy," Giles said. Sounding like he was explaining something to a small child. "I can't explain why right now, but please just trust me."  
  
He could hear Buffy sighing and someone started pacing back and forth. Spike guessed it was Buffy.  
  
"It's not that I don't trust you, you know I do, it's just that I feel strange leaving without them like that."  
  
"But Buffy, you fought without them many times before, it's no difference now," Giles said, sounding like he might loose his patients very soon.  
  
"Hey," someone said in the background. Spike after a moment of confusion remembered that Nils was also in there. "I don't want to intrude or anything, but I just want to say that I agree with the Slayer. The more people you are, the bigger is the chance to win." After a short silence the man continued. "And since I'm supposed to be on your side from now on, I just wanted to say that."  
  
Neither Buffy nor Giles seemed to take interest in what Nils had said, and they continued their bantering like before.  
  
"Spike then," Buffy said, the mention of his name by her gave Spike a warm feeling inside that he couldn't really explain. "Spike should at least come with me. That was the whole point of bringing him with us in the first place."  
  
Spike could almost hear the watcher clean his glasses.  
  
"No, no one. Please Buffy, if you've ever trusted me, do as I ask. Come with me and fight these vampires alone."  
  
Spike listened in surprise. What was this? Why was Giles so determined in her going alone to fight vampires? That made no sense.  
  
"All right," Buffy said, finally giving in. "But I just have to say one more time that I don't like this, and that I want a good explanation when we get back, okay?"  
  
Spike didn't hear what Giles said because he was just at that moment dragged away from the door by Xander.  
  
"What the hell are you doing, Spike?" Xander asked angrily. "I thought you'd gotten over the whole spying on Buffy thing."  
  
Annoyed Spike got up and scowled at the brunette.  
  
"I'm not spying, I'm listening to her and Giles," he said. Then he noticed Willow and Alex behind Xander. "'Lo Red. Can you ask mister aggressive here to back away? I would do it myself, but I have a feeling he wouldn't listen."  
  
Before anyone had time to say anything else Buffy opened the door and stepped out.  
  
"What's going on here? We could hear you through the door." She looked around at her friends.  
  
"Dead Boy jr. here was spying on you," Xander said, pointing at Spike.  
  
Buffy raised her eyebrows and gave Spike a questioning look.  
  
"I did no such thing!" Spike said, trying to sound convincing. At her disbelieving look he caved. "All right, I might have listened to some of the things you and watcher said, but I wasn't spying."  
  
She rolled her eyes and walked into her room, motioning for the others to follow. Giles was sitting by the table with Nils.  
  
"I can just as well tell you all while you're here. Giles and I are going out to kill some vamps soon. I don't know when we're going to be back," Buffy told them.  
  
Willow shrugged and sat down on the last chair that was left in the room.  
  
"Okay, I'll go get some supplies, and then we can all go," she said.  
  
Giles shook his head and got up.  
  
"No, just Buffy and me. The rest of you will stay here."  
  
Xander and Willow looked at him in confusion.  
  
"Why?" Xander asked. "No reason we can't help out."  
  
Spike walked up to Buffy and looked at he resolutely.  
  
"Yeah, my thinking exactly. Watcher here seems to have other ideas, but I will come with you and back you up, Slayer."  
  
She looked around firmly.  
  
"No. Giles and I will go alone. We'll be back before you know it."  
  
A chorus of protests was heard, but Buffy quickly silenced them.  
  
"Hey! What's the big? I've gone out slaying vamps on my own before, almost every night back in Sunnydale as a matter of fact, and no one's been all with the protests then."  
  
Alex, who had been quiet up till then now stepped forward.  
  
"It's because this isn't Sunnydale. This is Luleå in Sweden, a city you've only been in for a couple of days. You only know how to find your way a couple of blocks away from the hotel, go any further and you'll have no idea where you are. And all the signs are in Swedish, and as far as I know neither you nor Giles know how to read it."  
  
Nils nodded and got up.  
  
"Yes, she's right. You should at least bring me or Alex with you, we know every bit of this place," he said, earning surprised looks from both Willow and Alex, none of them expecting him to back Alex up about anything.  
  
But Giles wouldn't let himself be persuaded.  
  
"This is not up for debate," he said sternly. "We will leave in a little while, I'm just going to go pack some things, and I would suggest you give Buffy time to do the same." After that, he walked out of the room.  
  
"Slayer-"Spike started, but was cut off by her hand over his mouth.  
  
"No, Spike. Giles has his reasons for doing this, and even though I don't know what they are yet, I'm absolutely sure that he will tell me when it's time. And now I really have to get ready."  
  
Spike sighed and stormed out, soon followed by Nils and Alex. But Willow and Xander stayed behind with Buffy.  
  
"You sure you should do this?" Willow asked. "I mean, remember that thing we talked about before, Giles being up to something? I hate to say this, but this is another of these strange things he's been doing lately." Willow looked back and forth between Buffy and Xander, the later of the two was staring at her like she was crazy.  
  
"Giles is up to something? You got to be kidding, right? This is Giles we're talking about. And I'm sure he has a perfectly good reason for all of this, he just thinks its best not to tell us yet."  
  
Buffy sighed and started packing some weapons in a bag.  
  
"I hope you're right Xander. But I will keep an eye on him tonight, and hopefully he will explain everything to me."  
  
Xander nodded and walked out. Willow looked like she wanted to say something more, but she decided not to and soon she followed Xander outside.  
  
Then Buffy remembered something and she ran out after them.  
  
"Hey, where's Dawn?" she called out. "I haven't seen he since breakfast."  
  
Willow smiled.  
  
"She's out with Simon. They were talking about seeing a movie and grabbing some pizza afterwards," she told Buffy.  
  
Relieved that her sister was out having fun, and that she wasn't sitting alone in her room, Buffy returned to her packing.  
  
~*~  
  
"The movie was great!" Dawn said smiling as they returned to the hotel. "I don't think I've ever laughed that much in my whole life."  
  
Simon laughed and gave her a light kiss on the cheek.  
  
"Yeah, me too. We should do this again some time," he said.  
  
Dawn was practically bouncing as they walked in through the entrance. None of them was really paying attention to where they were going and they bumped into Giles.  
  
"Watch where you're going!" he said furiously before noticing who it was. "Oh, hi Dawn," he said with an excusing look on his face, "I didn't see it was you. You had a good time at the cinema?"  
  
She nodded, still a little shocked by his outburst.  
  
"Yeah," she said slowly. "Um, I'm going to go up and change, I spilled coca cola all over my sweater. But I'll be back soon," she said, and gave Simon a quick kiss. "See you later Giles."  
  
"Yes," Giles said and watched the teenager leave. After making sure that she was far enough not to be able to hear what they were saying he turned to Simon.  
  
"So, how is it going?" he asked inquisitively.  
  
Simon shrugged.  
  
"All right, I guess. But I would really appreciate it if you told me right no that it is over. Don't get me wrong, she'd a nice girl and all, but quite annoying."  
  
Both of them turned and walked further down the hallway, not seeing Dawn returning. She didn't call out to them since she was curious about what Simon was saying about her.  
  
"It is over soon, but you'll have to keep up your end of the bargain even if it would take a little longer. Dawn is not to be anywhere near the others tonight, and it is your responsibility to make sure she isn't." Giles gave the boy a determined glare. "You understand?"  
  
Simon sighed again and nodded.  
  
"Yes, I understand. I'm taking her to rent a movie when she gets back, and then we will be up in my dad's apartment for the rest of the night. I WILL do as I have promised."  
  
Dawn couldn't believe what she was hearing. No way Simon was just saying that! Didn't he like her, had it all been just a show? And what did Giles have to do with this? Confused and hurt she started walking away, but as she did so she caught Simons attention.  
  
"Dawn!" he called out after her. "You down here already? You were quicker then I expected you to be."  
  
She put on a fake smile and walked up to him and Giles.  
  
"Yes, I already knew which one I wanted, so it didn't take long." She took a deep breath and coughed loudly. "You know, I'm not feeling to good, you mind if I just stay in the rest of the night. We can do this whole movie thing tomorrow, okay?" She coughed again, this time even louder.  
  
Simon looked at Giles for advice, but the watcher had his eyes fixed on Dawn.  
  
"Of course you should rest if you're not feeling good, but don't you think it would be much nicer to rest in Simon's dad's apartment?" The suggestion was said in a caring way, but Dawn could see that he was irritated and mad over that his plans had been shattered.  
  
"No, but thanks anyway. I think I'm just going to go to bed, maybe read some."  
  
Giles sighed and gave her a broad affectionate smile.  
  
"All right. But you promise me you'll stay in the whole night? I don't want you to get sick."  
  
"I promise," Dawn said and gave him a quick hug. She turned to Simon and when he kissed her softly on the lips she had to force herself not to turn away from him.  
  
After saying her good bye's she hurried upstairs.  
  
~*~  
  
Alex waited for Willow at the bottom of the stairs, hoping that she'd persuaded Buffy to let them come along. When Willow finally arrived Alex immediately understood that she hadn't.  
  
"Come on," the red-haired girl said tiredly. "We should go do some research. You know anything about a large group of vamps hanging out around here somewhere?" she asked.  
  
Alex thought about it for a moment and then shook her head disappointedly.  
  
"No, from what I've heard they're all really shattered. If there is a large group here, it must be very new."  
  
Willow sighed absently and looked like she was lost in thought. Alex hesitated for a second and then continued.  
  
"I don't want you to take this the wrong way, or think that I'm interfering with things that isn't any of my business, but I think that it's something very wrong with Giles." When Willow didn't seem to take offence she continued. "I mean, from what I've heard from all of you talking, he's a really nice guy, but that's not what I've seen him like. Maybe he just don't like me, but. I have a feeling that isn't all there is. And I trust my feelings."  
  
Insecure of how her opinions had been received she watched Willow pensively.  
  
"I know what you mean," the red-haired witch answered after a while, that seemed like forever. "He's been acting all strange since he got back from England. I never really thought about it then, I was to engrossed with my own problems, but now I realize hasn't been the same for a long time, maybe even before I went back to Sunnydale."  
  
Willow seemed to truly be in agony over the fact that she hadn't noticed anything before, and Alex felt the need to comfort her.  
  
"Sh, it's all right," she said and hugged her, holding her tight. "It's not just you, no one else noticed it either. You shouldn't blame yourself. It's not your fault." She kept on holding her tight, and slowly started rocking back and forth to sooth the now crying witch.  
  
Wiping away the tears from her face, Willow swallowed and looked back up with swollen eyes.  
  
"I just feel so helpless," she cried softly.  
  
~*~  
  
Dawn was running like crazy to her sisters room, making every effort not to start crying. When she reached the door she walked in without knocking and was surprised to find the room empty. She looked around for any indication of where Buffy could be, but all she saw was the usual mess of clothed that lay spread across the room, on the floor and on the furniture. Almost crying just of disappointment she sat down on the floor breathing heavily. She barely even noticed it when someone else walked in.  
  
"You all right, 'bit?" Spike asked worryingly and put a hand on her shoulders. When she didn't answer he sat down beside her and laid his arm around her shoulders, making her lean against him. She sighed heavily and let the tears roll down her cheeks.  
  
"My life is hell," she whimpered. "Why did I agree to come here?"  
  
Spike didn't know what to do, so he just held her and wiped away the tears.  
  
"'S all right, luv. That Simon bloke did something to you? If he did I swear I'll give him a long and painful death."  
  
Scared that he would actually do it, Dawn shook her head violently.  
  
"No!" she cried out. "I mean, yes he did do something, but there will be no killing!"  
  
Smiling slightly he tried to reassure her.  
  
"I wouldn't do that, 'bit, you know that. But what did he do, you know you can tell me."  
  
She breathed in deeply and got up and started pacing in the room.  
  
"He never liked me," she said. "He was only with me because Giles made him."  
  
Spike stared at her in shock.  
  
"Wait, did you just say that Giles made that kid ask you out? That's crazy."  
  
Dawn nodded and sat down again.  
  
"Yeah, and there's more. Giles didn't want me to be around the rest for you tonight for some reason. The only reason he let me go up here was because I said I was sick and needed to go to bed."  
  
Spike shook his head in disbelief. Sure, the Watcher had been acting odd lately, but why would he do something like that to Dawn? He was almost like a father to her.  
  
"We need to tell Buffy about this," Dawn said determinedly. "Where is she?"  
  
"You just missed her, she and Giles were going out slaying some vampires tonight. He wouldn't let anyone else join in."  
  
Dawn stared at him in fear.  
  
"She's out there in a city she don't know anything about alone with Giles? I'm sorry, but that doesn't really calm me," she almost screamed at the blond vampire.  
  
"Me neither," Spike said and quickly got up from his position on the floor. They both hurried out to find Willow.  
  
~*~  
  
Xander rolled his eyes and looked up at the ceiling. No way Giles was up to something bad, no matter what this Swedish witch said. But the fact that Willow and Buffy seemed to be convinced also freaked him out a little. He couldn't believe that they wouldn't trust Giles, after all they'd been through. His last hopes were that Dawn and Anya would see it his way.  
  
And seeing Dawn coming towards them cheered him up a little. But that positive feeling soon died away when he saw her companion.  
  
"What is he doing here?" he groaned and put on a fake smile for Dawn. "Hi Dawnie, you had fun with Simon?"  
  
She looked like she was about to cry and he realized something was wrong. 'God, don't let anything have happened to Buffy,' he thought while, panic rising in him.  
  
"Has Buffy left yet?" Spike asked, nothing of his usual arrogance in his voice.  
  
Really starting to worry, Xander decided not to pick a fight with the vampire.  
  
"Yeah, you just missed her. She and Giles drove away maybe five minutes ago. Something's wrong?"  
  
When neither Dawn nor Spike replied Xander lost his patience.  
  
"I can see something's up, and I think you should tell me what it is. No matter how un-useful you think I am Spike, I can still help."  
  
Spike continued ignoring him and looked around in the hallway where they were standing. Except for the three of them it was completely empty.  
  
"Where's Red?" Spike finally said. "I thought she and Alex would be around here somewhere."  
  
"In the cafeteria," Xander replied after a moment of thought. "No please tell me what's going on!"  
  
Spike turned and started walking towards where Willow and Alex were. Dawn gave Xander a reassuring smile and motioned him to follow her.  
  
"You'll find out when we tell the others," she said. "You know where Anya is?"  
  
Xander nodded.  
  
"Yeah, she's in there also together with that Swedish guy. They seem to get along real good." It was a hint of jealousy in his voice that Dawn seemed to not notice, or maybe ignore.  
  
"Great," was all she said as they entered the cafeteria.  
  
Spike was already sitting by the table beside Alex, Willow, Nils and Anya. Soon Dawn and Xander had joined them and they all were quiet and listened to Dawn's story. After she'd told them about Simon and Giles' conversation they all sat there without saying anything for quite a while.  
  
"You sure you didn't misunderstand anything?" Xander finally said, still not willing to even contemplate the thought that Giles might be up to something.  
  
Dawn gave him an annoyed look and got up, frustrated with being questioned of whether or not she was knew what she was talking about. But luckily, Spike came to her rescue.  
  
"'Course she didn't misunderstand, Whelp. She isn't five, you know. She's upset enough as it is without you acting like she made it all up." Pure anger was displayed in the blonde's eyes.  
  
Xander had the decency to look ashamed and they all pointedly ignored him.  
  
"Anyone else thinks that we should find Giles and Buffy right now?" Alex finally said after an uncomfortable silence.  
  
A chorus of 'Yes', 'Bloody hell yes', 'okay' and 'Sure' was heard and everyone turned to Willow. When Buffy and Giles wasn't there she was the natural leader.  
  
"There's no point in us all going," she said calmly and business like. "Spike, you and Alex should go after Buffy. The two of you could probably fight of almost anything, plus you could find your way in this town blind- folded Alex." When no protests were heard she continued. "I will stay here and research, Dawn you can help me." She shot the teenager a soothing smile. "Xander, you and Anya should stay here and wait to see if Buffy calls. Nils, I think you should go see your brother, make sure he's with us."  
  
Everyone nodded and got up. Time to get to work.  
  
TBC  
  
A/N: This chapter took a while for me to write, because of a small family crisis. But I just wanna say thanks for all the wonderful reviews I've gotten. Luv you! I'm starting to get to the end --I think-and I hope you all will like the ending I have planned! ( /mell 


	12. chapter 12

Chapter 12  
  
Spike couldn't believe how slow the car was going, it felt like they'd been driving for hours, when in fact it was only about ten minutes. Even though it had only gone two minutes since he did it the last time, he turned around to face Alex who were sitting in the backseat holding her map that was currently glowing after the location spell she'd done earlier.  
  
"How much further is it?" he asked impatiently. He could just imagine all of the bad things that could be happening to his Buffy at that exact time.  
  
But the ever so calm Alex just shrugged and eyed the map closer.  
  
"Only a couple of minutes. But it would go much faster if you would just concentrate on driving and let me worry about this," she said, pointing at the map.  
  
He sighed and drove even faster, even though he'd already exceeded the speed limit much more then was comfortable for his passenger. She clutched the side of the door and lost her calm visage fore a moment.  
  
"What the hell!" she breathed out. "I said concentrate on your driving, not kill me with your driving. I don't care if you've owned a car for like a century, everyone can be killed by sliding on the ice into a tree."  
  
He smirked and chuckled, amused by her fear.  
  
"Not me, but you on the other hand." he teased her, but to his disappointment she had regained control over herself again and she ignored him. He chuckled gain, and slowed down slightly. He maybe wouldn't die by a car accident, but it would slow him down.  
  
But he knew it might already be too late.  
  
~*~  
  
Nils was let in to the headquarter without any of the safety procedures that would have taken place if he had been someone else. Ignoring the men and hurried up to his brothers office at the top floor. He still couldn't help but stare at the expensive-looking paintings and furniture that was on that floor. All of the other offices and hallways had barely any furniture at all, only the real necessities had been bought. His brother really liked being the boss.  
  
"Hej, e' Marcus inne? Jag behöver prata me' honom," he said to the secretary outside his brothers door. (Hi, is Marcus in? I need to talk with him.)  
  
She nodded and pushed a button.  
  
"Din bror är här, ska jag skicka in honom?" she asked with a non-caring voice. (Your brother's here, should I send him in?)  
  
There wasn't any answer, but seconds later the door opened and a dark- haired man in his early thirty's stepped outside, giving Nils a warm smile. Nils smiled back and walked into the huge office. The walls were clad with dark brown wallpaper, and all the furniture looked like they had been taken directly from a 18th century museum. Uncomfortable in the big room, Nils chose the simplest looking chair he could find and sat down.  
  
If Marcus felt his unease, he didn't show it. The two brothers had never been very close, but they hadn't been fighting that much either. Still none of them had uttered a word.  
  
"Så, varför är du här? Nån stor kris?" he said, sounding amused. (So, why are you here? Some big crisis?)  
  
Nils shrugged and gave him a thoughtful gaze.  
  
"Nej, inte egentligen," he said slowly. "Jag är bara här för att berätta att flickan som kallas The Slayer är här med sina följeslagare, och att jag lovat dem vår hjälp." (No, not really. I'm just here to tell you that the girl that is called The Slayer is here with her companions, and that I've promised them our help.)  
  
Marcus looked surprised for a moment, but then quickly composed himself. He eyed his younger brother thoughtfully, like he wasn't sure what to think. Nils felt his gaze and shifted uncomfortably in his chair. Finally Marcus spoke.  
  
"Jag antar att Rupert Giles in talat med dig än," he said like someone talking to a child. Then he sighed. "Då får jag vel göra det själv då. Vi ska inte hjälpa Buffy, eller någon av hennes vänner. Detta kan komma some en chock för dig, och jag förstår om du blir arg och besviken på mig för att jag hållit det hemligt, men vi arbetar inte för rådet, vi arbetar for mister Giles." (I guess Rupert Giles haven't spoken to you yet. Then I'll have to do it myself. This may come as a chock to you, and I will understand if you get angry and disappointed at me for keeping this a secret from you, but were not working for the Council, we're working for Mr. Giles.)  
  
Nils stared at him. What was this that he was hearing? How could Marcus have held this a secret from him, he was supposed to be Marcus right hand, the one he told all of the plans. And all of the time he'd been lying. This was too much. He rose from his chair and walked up to his brother and shook him violently.  
  
"En chock? Fattar du inte vad du gjort? Jag litade på dig, och jag har lovat dem vår hjälp. Jag har inte tänkt svika dem nu!" (A shock? Don't you understand what you've done? I trusted you, and I've promised them our help. I'm not planning on letting them down now!)  
  
Marcus smirked and gave him a look that could kill. Slowly Nils calmed down and let go of him. But he was far from happy about this.  
  
"Jag tänker inte svika dem," he said, deadly calm. "Och du kan inte tvinga mig. Ifall du tänker fortsätta med det här du håller på med, så kommer jag och du vara på olika sidor." (I won't betray them. And you can't make me. If you're going to go through with what you're doing, you and I will be on different sides.)  
  
Marcus just smiled and shrugged.  
  
"Synd. Jag antar att du vill gå nu?" he said, just as calm as Nils had been seconds earlier. (Too bad. I guess you want to leave now?)  
  
Nils stormed out of the office without looking back even once.  
  
~*~  
  
Something about the place really creeped Buffy out. Maybe it was all the dust and the spooky noises that the wind made when it blew through the broken windows. She wandered around on the first floor, looking for any signs of vampires. But she found none. And all the time Giles stood there by the door, completely silent.  
  
She sighed and walked up to him.  
  
"There's no one here, obviously the ones that told you about this place were wrong, or they were just playing with you." When he didn't make any move that showed that he had even heard her, she frowned and gazed at him worriedly. "Giles, is something wrong?" When he still didn't answer she felt a chill go down her spine.  
  
Wanting to forget about it, she tried to find something to do. Her eyes stopped at the stairs leading up to the second floor of the four-floored house and she started walking towards it.  
  
"Where is the vampires when you need them?" she muttered. Halfway up she heard something behind her. Turning around she saw Giles standing there, and she gave him a smile, but it was quickly cut off by the needle that was suddenly stuck in her arm, and she gasped in horror and surprised before everything went black.  
  
"This is for you," Giles whispered to her unconscious form. "Always for you."  
  
~*~  
  
Willow pressed the key slowly as she waited for the information to come up on her screen. Beside her, Dawn sat by another computer searching unsuccessfully for any information about what was happening.  
  
But when Willow had finished downloading the file she jumped up and let out a high cry of victory. A surprised Dawn looked up at her and ran to the witch's computer to see what all the fuss was about. When all she could see was words written in a language she didn't understand she gazed at Willow expectantly. She didn't have to wait long, because soon the red-haired girl sat down again and started translating out-loud for Dawn.  
  
"And so it's said, at one hour in the cold land where the sun don't rise, the One will arise, and feed off the unhappiness of the strong ones. Its power will grow bigger, and Its slaves will do as It wishes. All will in the end bow for Its will. For his slaves are not controlled by force, or by greed, not they are controlled by Its mind. No physical power can hurt the One, and all will be for nothing."  
  
Dawn stared at her, hoping she had heard it wrong.  
  
"What do you mean? 'It's all for nothing', what's up with that? We don't have a chance?"  
  
Willow put a soothing hand on the teenager's arm and gave her a reassuring smile.  
  
"No, this is if we cant stop it before it has done whatever it has planned. And we will stop it." She sighed unhappily and looked like she was lost in thought. "I just don't know how yet."  
  
"But what about this then? 'At one hour in the land where the sun don't rise'? Where and when is that?" Dawn asked, quickly starting to panic.  
  
"It's today," Willow replied after a moments of thought. "It has to be today. We're so far up north that at one day every year the sun never rises. And that is today. We just have to figure out where exactly it is."  
  
She picked up her cell and called Xander.  
  
"Xander? Hi. I need you, Anya and Nils to meet me in my room in fifteen minutes, I think we have a lead." After saying her good byes she logged out of the computer and picked up her bag.  
  
"Come on Dawnie, it's time to go save your sister," she said and hurried out to the cold winter air.  
  
~*~  
  
Buffy slowly woke up and when she sat up, the whole room started spinning. She was in a small room with gray concrete walls and no windows. The door was made of steel and she held no hope of that she could break it down. Panic started to fill her, and she started banging on the door until her hands were bleeding. Feeling the pain, she stopped.  
  
She had no idea where she was, but as the memory started coming back she realized that she must still be inside the house. Whatever was in that shot, it sure had to be strong. Every time she made a quick move she felt dizzy and had to sit down.  
  
She sighed and leaned against the wall. Nothing to do but wait and see what was to happen.  
  
~*~  
  
They could see the house in the dim light from the moon. For some reason Spike couldn't really enjoy that the sun hadn't been up the whole day, he maybe had been around humans too long.  
  
The house looked like it had at least four floors, and it looked so old that he wouldn't be surprised if it collapsed right there in front of him. Alex seemed to be thinking the same thing, because she shuddered as she saw the broken windows and the shaky stairs.  
  
But before anyone of them got to express their discomfort, someone grabbing Spike and throwing him into a nearby tree interrupted them. For a moment everything was black, but he shook it off and ran to Alex's aid. He ignored the stabbing pain in his shoulders and in his left arm and pushed the big green slimy demon aside. That was when everything went black again.  
  
But luckily Alex had already started chanting, and soon a small ball of fire burned between her lifted hands, and after a whispered word from her, it flew away at their attacker. The demon staggered and fell, and before it had time to get up again, Alex beheaded him with a sword they'd brought for the possibility that something like this might happen.  
  
Shaking slightly, Spike sat up slowly and looked around for the demon. When he saw it lying lifeless on the ground and Alex standing unharmed beside it he smiled in relief. He'd actually grown pretty fond of the witch, even though her calm way of acting annoyed him sometimes.  
  
"You okay?" she asked just then and helped him up.  
  
Afraid that his voice would betray him, he just nodded. No need to make her worry about him when there was much more important things to worry about, like Buffy. Remembering their reason for being by the old abandoned house, he took a deep breath to calm himself down and started walking while hiding his grimaces of pain from the witch.  
  
He was the one that opened the door, and that was probably what saved Alex. She wouldn't have survived the gunshot that had now gone through Spike's chest and made him fall to the ground, fainting by the pain. Alex was too shocked to be able to do anything when Giles rushed forward and stabbed her with a needle. The last thing she saw before everything went black was Giles eyes looking at her like he was completely insane.  
  
~*~  
  
When Willow and Dawn reached the hotel the others were already gathered in Willows room. They watched them expectantly; all of them eager to find out what were really going on. Dawn didn't want to be the one to tell them, so she quickly sat down, leaving Willow in the center of attention.  
  
"We have a problem," the witch started. Nils snorted and Xander hit him quite hard in the head. Nils started to rise his hand, but Anya put a stop to the oncoming fight by giving them both a look of steel.  
  
When Willow saw that she had their undivided attention again, she continued.  
  
"As I said, we have a problem. Something big is coming, and I think it's coming tonight. I have no idea where, but since this is a hellmouth, my guess is that it's somewhere close to us. But our biggest problem is-" she stopped, she didn't really want to tell them about Giles connection to the thing. "This demon has the power to make people his slaves. Right now it isn't strong enough to control that many people, but after some kind of ritual that takes place tonight, it can control everyone. And I mean EVERYONE."  
  
Xander and Nils stared at her in disbelief. Why was this happening just when they didn't know where Buffy and Giles where?  
  
"But what about Buffy and Giles?" Anya said, putting a voice to their question. "Don't you think we'll need them? I know all of you are convinced that Giles gone bad or something, but I still don't think he would stand by and let some demon take over the minds of every person in the world."  
  
"Giles is one of it's slaves," Dawn said shakily, only a whisper. Nils, Anya and Xander stared at her like she was crazy.  
  
"Giles? Is Giles this thing's slave? I thought you said it couldn't control minds yet, not until after this ritual thingy," Xander said to Willow.  
  
She shook her head at him.  
  
"No, I said it wasn't strong enough to control many people, but maybe ten or twenty or so." When they all gasped in horror of having to fight humans under the control of the demon, she desperately wanted to say that it wasn't true, that she and Dawn had just played a joke on them. But she couldn't. "I don't know how his thing got control over Giles, but it has, and I don't know how to break the connection. I don't think it's even possible." Willow turned to Nils and watched him expectantly. He moved uneasily under her gaze and looked down.  
  
"Your brother and those soldiers, will they help us?" she asked hopefully.  
  
He looked down, like he was ashamed or something.  
  
"No," he said quietly. "Neither my brother or the soldiers will help you. They only do what Giles tells them to do."  
  
All eyes were now on Nils, and he still looked down.  
  
"I didn't know, I promise," he said pleadingly, now looking at Anya. "You all have to believe me, my brother has been lying to me for months. The council has never been involved in out little organization; it has been only Giles all along. So, no, you want get any help from them."  
  
"This just gets worse and worse every second," Xander muttered.  
  
Dawn squeezed his hand softly, just as much to sooth herself as him.  
  
"It'll all work out," she said, actually managing to sound convinced. "It has too. We just have to find Buffy."  
  
"Spike and Alex are out doing that right now, but I think it's time for us to join them," Willow said and hoped that they were all right. As Dawn said; it would all work out, it had too.  
  
~*~  
  
Buffy was startled when the door suddenly opened and she jumped up quickly into a fighting stance. Unfortunately she was still feeling faint, and she wasn't sure she would be able to fight as good as usual. But only half of her strength would be enough for most beasties.  
  
But to her surprise no one came. Slowly she walked up to the door, only to be met by the barrel of a gun pointing directly at her head. And the person who held it was Giles. She froze, making sure she didn't do anything that could make him pull the trigger, and then she noticed the bodies lying behind him.  
  
"What have you done to them?" she cried, as she couldn't see neither Alex nor Spike breathing, the thing about Spike not needing it was totally forgotten.  
  
Giles didn't say anything at first; he just stood there with the gun in his hand, looking strangely absent. But then he suddenly stared her directly into her eyes.  
  
"Carry them in there," he said, his voice sounding different somehow, totally vacant of feelings. "If you try anything, I will shot them."  
  
The way he said it made Buffy feel no doubt about whether or not he would actually do it. Not seeing any way she could rescue them and get out of there without risking all of their life's she did as she'd been asked. Quickly see got to Alex's side and lifted her up and half dragged, half carried her into the small room. Feeling Giles' eyes upon her she hurried up and got Spike. When both of them lay lifeless on the floor Giles smiled wickedly.  
  
"No you go inside," he said, sounding like one of those psycho murderers from an old horror movie.  
  
She took the small step that put her inside the room and waited. Giles chuckled and pushed the door shut with his foot. Soon she could hear the sound of the lock being turned.  
  
~*~  
  
Giles stepped down on the floor and watched his work. It had taken him several days to complete it; he'd spent every moment he could there for the last week. The old gray walls on the second floor had been painted with pigs-blood, and large areas of the floor were completely covered with candles. And all of the windows had been drawn shut. The place was ready for the One to finally arise.  
  
"You have done good, Watcher," the dark voice said. "Almossst ready."  
  
Giles was now so deep in Its control that the voice didn't bother him anymore. He stood there like a slave waiting for orders. A hideous laughter was heard and all of the remaining windows shook.  
  
"Jussst one more thing, if you are to get what you asssked for."  
  
"What is that, Master?" Giles asked like he was in a trance.  
  
The laughter was heard again, now even louder.  
  
"Kill them all," it said, sounding almost like a whisper. "Kill them all and leave the Ssslayer alone in her misssery, and I will free her from her resssponsssibilitiesss."  
  
"Yes, Master," Giles replied.  
  
~*~  
  
The whole group gathered as many weapons as they could and packed them into Nils car. Just as they all were about to get in, a tall dark-haired man stepped forward from the shadows.  
  
"So your leaving now, are you?" he asked. For some reason that seemed to amuse him. "Aren't you going to say goodbye first, Nils?"  
  
None of the others recognized the man, but slowly they started to realize who it was.  
  
"Why would I, Marcus? It isn't like you and I have that much in common anymore. Me being on the good side and you being on the bad, I say that could be a problem at the family gatherings in the future."  
  
Marcus smirked and made a signal with his hands.  
  
"I was actually hoping that you would switch side's, but I didn't really think you would. It's too bad though, because now you'll have to die together with your American friends."  
  
Suddenly at least forty men and women attacked them both from the forest surrounding them and from the hotel. Five against forty isn't very good odds.  
  
~*~  
  
She didn't know what to do. She's made sure that Alex was alive, and the witch had started to move slightly and she could her small moans coming from her. But Spike still hadn't made any move at all. He had several wounds on his shoulders and arms, and one big one on his chest, and the last one wouldn't stop bleeding.  
  
"He's been shot," Alex whispered hoarsely from her position in one of the corners. "Giles shot him right in the chest, he fell and then Giles put a needle on my arm. I couldn't do anything." The witch drifted away again and Buffy rushed forward.  
  
"Alex! Wake up, I need your help!" she cried while holding her in her arms. "You have to wake up, please."  
  
It was like Alex found strength from the Slayers voice, because her eyes opened again and she was able to sit up almost without any help.  
  
"Where are we?" she asked raggedly, her voice felt like she hadn't used it for weeks.  
  
"In the old house," Buffy answered, happy to see her awake again. "I need your help with Spike."  
  
That was when Alex noticed Spike for real for the first time. When she saw all of the blood she made a gagging sound. Buffy looked at her pleadingly and she tried to get herself together.  
  
"I'm sorry, I just can't stand blood." She shakily rose to her feat and walked to Spike's side. "I can help him," she said determinedly. "If it wasn't for him I'd be dead. If I had gone in first." She left the last sentence unfinished as she sat down beside the vampire. "I just have to remember the right spell."  
  
Buffy wasn't sure what to do. She wanted Spike to be okay, seeing him lying there lifeless put her in more pain then she'd been in for a very long time. She knew that she didn't want to loose him, that he was a big and important part of her life that she. loved.  
  
"Oh my God," she mumbled.  
  
"I can do it Buffy, don't worry," Alex said, thinking that Buffy had been talking about her spell. "Just give me a minute to think it through."  
  
Buffy whispered absently and sat down beside the unconscious body. She put Spike's head in her lap and held his hand tightly.  
  
"Do whatever you have to do." TBC 


	13. chapter 13

A/N: I'm starting to get to the end of this fic and I'm doing my best to finish it as soon as possible. Although I know exactly what's going to happen in the last chapters, I have trouble writing it down for some reason. But hopefully it'll be finished by the end of next week. And thanks for the reviews; they have really inspired me to write! /mell  
  
Chapter 13  
  
Alex knelt beside Spike and put her hands over his wounds. As she started saying the words in the spell she felt as though some of her life was given to the vampire, and she grew more and more tired. When her hands started glowing she suddenly felt so dizzy she thought she would faint, but the pleading look on Buffy's face made her try harder.  
  
She knew that Spike probably wouldn't die even if she stopped, but at the same time they needed him to defeat Giles. He couldn't fight humans, but she feared that Giles had allied himself with something that wasn't.  
  
When Spike's eyes shot open Alex couldn't hold herself together any longer and she fainted.  
  
~*~  
  
It was like a fog surrounded him, and he couldn't see who was leaning over his body. But he could feel who it was behind him.  
  
"Buffy?" he got out hoarsely. "What-What's happened?"  
  
She didn't answer, instead she held him tight and he could feel something wet in his hair. Tears. Worried that someone had died or was seriously hurt, he tried to get up and comfort her, but he was still too weak. But now he could at least see.  
  
"What's wrong?" he whispered gently.  
  
She continued crying, but he could see her trying to say something.  
  
"I-I thought I'd lost you!" she cried. "I thought you'd died and left me, just like the others."  
  
Confused and worried he looked around. He had some problems understanding what she was saying; his mind still hadn't completely cleared.  
  
"Who died? Oh my god, not Dawn, right?" He was now trying to get up again, and this time he succeeded.  
  
"No, no one's dead, I was-I was talking about people leaving me," she said. Relieved he put his arm around her shoulder and let her help him stand up. Then he felt a sudden pain in his chest, it wasn't much, but it startled him. He looked down to see where the wound was, but there was none.  
  
"What happened to me?" he asked. He couldn't remember anything that had happened since that he an Alex had left the car.  
  
"Giles shot you," she replied softly.  
  
He was about to remind her that a gunshot wouldn't really kill him, but then he noticed Alex lying on the floor.  
  
"He shot you and then he did something to Alex to make her unconscious."  
  
Alex's long hair completely covered her face and he could swear that parts of it were white as snow.  
  
"Is she still unconscious after what Giles did to her?" he asked.  
  
Buffy shook her head and sat down beside the witch.  
  
"No, she healed you. I think it took a lot out of her, she fainted at the same moment as you woke up. I haven't tried to wake her up yet, I was kinda busy with you at the moment."  
  
Spike had to stop himself from smiling happily at the fact that she'd been worrying about him, and that she cared whether or not he was alive or dead. But the timing wasn't really appropriate.  
  
"We have to wake her up, and then figure out a way to get out of here."  
  
~*~  
  
They stood close together as near the car as they could. They had no way to get out of there because between them and the car where at least ten men, just waiting for them to try to get to the vehicle.  
  
"There's no use," Marcus said, smiling wickedly. "All of you will be dead before dawn. Nothing you do can change that, we're to many."  
  
Willow grabbed Dawn and Anya's hands and whispered to them.  
  
"Remember, those of them that are under the One's control aren't good anymore, and they probably never will be again. If we don't stop them, the One will rise again and the world won't be this nice, so do what you have to do."  
  
Dawn was shaking slightly, but her face looked calm and confident. If Willow hadn't felt her hands tremble she would have thought that the teen was totally unaffected by the whole ordeal.  
  
"How will we know who is good and who isn't?" Dawn asked. "You said it wasn't very strong yet, so all of these people can't be its slaves."  
  
Willow considered this for a moment before looking around at the waiting humans around them. Most of the people from the hotel looked scared, just as some of the soldiers.  
  
"You're right, Dawn. I don't think all of these are slaves. I will try something," she whispered determinedly. "Listen, all of you," she called out. "I am a very powerful witch, and I can kill you all. But all of you that is not under the control of the One, step forward now, and you will be spared."  
  
No one moved, but confusion was visible on at least thirty people's faces. They had no idea of what Willow was talking about.  
  
Quickly Willow started mumbling words that no one could understand, and the faces of those that wasn't under the One's control started glowing brightly.  
  
"Don't kill those who glow!" Willow screamed and let go of Dawn and grabbed a weapon. The others soon followed and the fight began.  
  
Dawn was rushing forward towards some of them that was glowing, hoping to be able to get them away from there.  
  
Everywhere around her, her friends were trying to win over their attackers without killing anyone, but it was evident that these people no longer cared for their own lives, they we're ready to fight until death. Dawn could see how Xanders axe fell down on an old man from the hotel that she recognized as Simon's dad. The man fell slowly to the ground and the axe was still stuck on him. Xander leaned down and grabbed it, and anyone that didn't know him would have thought that it didn't matter to him that he'd just killed a human being, his face was totally expressionless.  
  
Anya's shout at her made Dawn duck at the exact time that a knife flew over her head and got stuck in a tree behind her. Turning she could see Simon standing there, another weapon ready in his hand. And he was glowing.  
  
"You don't want to do this!" Dawn screamed, fearing for her life. She had lost her grip on her weapon when she ducked, so she had no way to defend herself. "It's me, Dawn!"  
  
Simon smirked and walked closer to her.  
  
"And? You think you mean anything to me, you murderer? Don't you think I know what you've done, you and your friends?" He looked at her with hateful eyes. Dawn couldn't do anything but stare at him.  
  
"Murderer? Where have you heard that from?" she asked confusedly.  
  
He snorted and raised his weapon.  
  
"Don't try that, I know everything. Giles told me about you. It's you, all of you, that have killed all of those people. And now you have to pay!" Dawn didn't get a chance to say anything before he threw the knife at her. But it stopped just and inch from her face, and she could see Simon staring at he in shock. Quickly Dawn put on a threatening face, and she took the knife from where it was in the air. Careful to not let him see it, she gave Willow a thankful look.  
  
"I am a powerful witch," she lied to Simon. "And if I were you, I would run. Now!"  
  
Seconds later Simon was gone, and a couple of other glowing people that had seen the exchange followed him. Pleased with herself, Dawn turned around. Anya was battling two men with swords, one of them was glowing, and she was winning. None of them seemed to have any skills what so ever with swords, and soon the non-glowing one lay lifeless on the ground. She shot the other man a threatening look, and he ran away.  
  
The others seemed to be in similar situations, the glowing ones didn't really want to be there, and their courage quickly dissipated, and the slaves under the One weren't very skilled fighters, with a couple exceptions. But those that where was taken care of by Willow, who had gotten up on the car's roof somehow and was chanting in foreign languages. Between her lifted hands was a small ball of energy that seemed to shoot out little shots on some of the humans now and then.  
  
Fifteen minutes after that they had been attacked, only ten soldiers were still there, all except one of them glowing. Marcus stood there, shaking with fury as he stared after some of his men that had fled the scene. He was the only one left that didn't glow.  
  
"This doesn't change anything witch!" he screamed, sounding like a maniac. "My Master will still win this, and there is nothing you can do, for it has already began!"  
  
Then he ran, followed by his remaining men.  
  
"Does anyone else but me think that that was too easy?" Nils asked. Everyone stared at him. "Well, maybe not easy," he quickly said, "but think about it. There's five of us, and like fifty of them, and we make it out without a scratch, and we've killed at least ten people. Many of them trained soldiers. And I know some of those men that ran and I tell you; those men are not cowards. I don't think we where supposed to loose."  
  
Anya, Xander and Dawn looked at him like he was crazy, but Willow nodded.  
  
"Yes, I think your right. I think those were just her to slow us down, not kill us."  
  
"But what is it that's going to happen that they don't want us to be at? And where?" asked Xander curiously.  
  
"We need to find Buffy, now!" Dawn said determinedly, and walked to the car.  
  
~*~  
  
When Alex finally woke up, Spike was totally recovered, and he'd been spending the last ten minutes throwing himself at the door. But it didn't move at all.  
  
"Oh," Alex moaned as she felt the pounding headache. "We're still in here?" she asked, trying to clear her head.  
  
Buffy nodded before suddenly giving her a hug.  
  
"Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you for helping him."  
  
Alex smiled slightly, ignoring the sudden rush of pain that caused.  
  
"You're welcome," she replied softly. "But now we really need to get out of here."  
  
Buffy nodded in agreement and got up to help Spike. But after another minute or two they both agreed that there was no use.  
  
"We need to find another way," Spike said, very tired after everything that had happened.  
  
None of them looked at her, but Alex understood what he meant. They needed her help.  
  
"Give me a moment," she grunted while trying to stand up.  
  
Buffy looked torn between her need to get out of the room and her concern for the witch.  
  
"Are you sure you should do that?" she asked worriedly. "You might hurt yourself."  
  
Alex tried to give her a self-confident smile as she leaned against the doorframe.  
  
"It'll give me a hell of a headache, but that goes away after I've rested. Hopefully Willow has realized that something is wrong and then she'll come her and join us. Then I won't need to use any magic for a while. It'll be okay."  
  
Both Spike and Buffy looked doubtful but they nodded.  
  
"All right then, but any sign your gonna break, I'm stopping this," Spike said gently but seriously, and Buffy gave him an odd look. "Not going to let the girl who saved me die on me, are I?" he added with a smirk.  
  
"Let's go then," Alex said and turned her full attention to the door. The words she spoke in Latin sounded almost as the wind, so soft were they. The door started to shake and little by little it swayed open. When the crack between the door and the doorframe was so big that Buffy could put her hand in it, Alex stopped, completely exhausted.  
  
"You think you could do the rest?" she asked tiredly. Without a word of objection Buffy started pushing with all of her force, and since it was already starting to open, it wasn't too difficult. Soon it was totally opened and the tree of them could go out.  
  
"Freedom, at last," Buffy said with a smile as they hurried down the corridor towards the stairs. None of them knew where Giles where, they didn't even know if he still was in the building. But they had no choice but to look after him in the normal way since Alex was in no condition to do any more spells. Well, almost the normal way, they did have a vampire with enhanced hearing and smell.  
  
"He's close," Spike whispered as they reached the stairs. "Down."  
  
The girls didn't question him and they all stepped down as silent as they could, not wanting to alert Giles of their sudden freedom.  
  
~*~  
  
Willow couldn't help but feel stressed as Nils drove the car towards the old house in the outskirts of town were they'd found out that Buffy and the others were. Luckily, Giles hadn't done any kind of spells to prevent her form finding the place, so her location spell had worked like a charm. Maybe even to easily, Willow thought.  
  
Nils had to be driving at least 100, but it felt too slow. Willow had to pull up every ounce of self-control not to use magic to speed the car up a bit. But she needed to save her power as much as possible to the final battle. Hopefully they'd win it and go back home and return to their normal lives, maybe bring Alex with them, but if they didn't win. Willow couldn't help but think about Anna's predictions of how one of them was going to die. Who could it be? One or maybe more of them would loose one person that they loved very much. But in their tight circle almost everyone was loved by all of the others. Except maybe Spike. Come to think of it, Spike wasn't really loved by anyone. Dawn maybe, but Willow doubted that Dawn actually loved him, especially after everything that had happened before he got his soul.  
  
Her depressing thought were interrupted by the car coming to a halt and she could see the large house among the trees further down the road.  
  
"Why are you stopping now?" Dawn asked Nils. "It has to be 800 yards left, at least."  
  
"We don't want him to know we're here, Dawnie," Xander explained before Nils had a chance too. For some reason he didn't seem to like the Swede that much. He was probably just jealous because Anya liked the guy.  
  
"I don't think we'll have to worry about that," Willow said dryly to her friends. "I think he's known that we're coming from the start."  
  
"Probably," Anya agreed. "But we should still try to surprise him as much as possible. Any advantage we get is a definite plus."  
  
There was no more discussion, and they all got out of the car and started sneaking up to the house. Even though they were still too far away to be seen, they didn't want to take any chances.  
  
The house was very large, and something about it sent chills down everyone's spine. Nils mentioned that all of the people around here avoided the place as much as they could.  
  
"And here we are anyway," Xander muttered under his breath. Everyone ignored them as they reached the front porch.  
  
"It's so quiet," Dawn whispered weekly when they'd gotten inside. The smell that hit them was overwhelming, and no one besides Willow could understand what it came from.  
  
"It's flowers," she said quietly. "A special kind that you use for summoning and certain spells that increasing power. I think Giles has begun with whatever it is he's going to do."  
  
Behind her Anya gasped and looked around warily. '  
  
"Then we're maybe too late. If we stay we might be the first ones to come under the One's control. I say we run now while we still have the chance."  
  
Dawn and Nils shot here angry glares, but Willow and Xander looked at her understanding.  
  
"If you really don't want to be here, Ahn, you can leave. I'm sure we can make it without you, and no one will hold it against you afterwards," Xander said sympathetically.  
  
Willow nodded in agreement, but Anya saw Dawn's look and raised her head, giving the teen an intimidating glance.  
  
"No, it' all right. I'll help you send this demon back where he belongs. I won't let anyone -- or anything -- scare me off."  
  
Nils increased his pace so that he walked beside the vengeance demon and he gave her an approving look.  
  
"That's great Anya. Now lets go stop this."  
  
The others nodded and hurried up. The closer they got to the stairs in the end of the hallway the stronger the scent was. There was no doubt in their minds that they would have to go up.  
  
"You sure this will hold?" Xander asked Willow hesitantly as he tried the first step. "I mean, it looks kinda shaky."  
  
Without answering, Willow walked up the stairs, quickly reaching the second floor.  
  
"I think you got your answer there, mate," Nils said, somewhat amused.  
  
Xander snorted and ignored the blonde. Moments later the entire group had reached the third floor. They could see Giles pacing back and forth, softly reciting in a foreign language. Surrounding him a dark form could be seen, almost floating in the air. It was translucent and it had no clear form, although the things shining red eyes was perfectly clear. And when it looked at them shills went down all of their spines and all around them soft whispers could be heard.  
  
"Don't listen to it, it's trying to take control over your mind!" Willow screamed to her friends as she put her hands over her ears. But it didn't help as the words weren't coming in the natural way, they where formed inside her own head. She couldn't get away even how much she tried. She could see the others around her doing the same thing, and for a moment she felt like she could fight it. Its power seemed to be weakening. But then it's voice increased in power again and it filled her mind.  
  
Willow tried to move her legs and arms but found that she couldn't. Luckily she could still speak and move her head. She turned to Dawn who stood beside her. The brunette looked like she was about to panic and Willow would have done anything to be able to reach out to her.  
  
"Sh, Dawn. Don't worry. It won't be able to hold us like this forever. Remember, I told you it wasn't very strong yet, it can't control many people at once."  
  
Dawn whimpered slightly but she nodded. The teen knew that it wasn't the time to fall apart.  
  
Giles had now stopped to watch them; his face looking totally indifferent to the fact that his friends were held captured by a demon that probably would kill them.  
  
"So Willow, I see you're finally here. And you brought company," he said, sounding like he was discussing the weather. He shot a quick look at Dawn and Willow could see a small flash of sorrow in his eyes, but it was soon gone. "You even brought Dawn. I'd been trying to keep her away from this, but apparently I didn't succeed." He sighed and shrugged. "Oh well, I guess she'll have to die with the rest of you." After that he turned around and continued with the spell that he'd been doing when the group arrived.  
  
"Giles, listen to me, this isn't you!" Dawn cried out, but he didn't even seem to notice.  
  
~*~  
  
Alex had one arm around Spikes shoulders and one around Buffys as the three of them made their way down the stairs. She was growing more and more tired every minute and Buffy cold see her almost dozing off a couple of times.  
  
"Al, wake up!" she whispered in the witches ear. "This is no time for sleeping, you'll get to rest later."  
  
Alex mumbled something inaudible and raised her head a little.  
  
"See pet, all better," Spike joked as he held her steady. "And just ten more steps or so we'll be visiting dear ol' Rupert again. Won't that be jolly. Eh Slayer?"  
  
Buffy rolled her eyes and tried to ignore the vampire. Even if she liked him a lot more now, maybe even loved him a little, he could still be annoying. So annoying that she couldn't keep her eyes off of him. Or wait, that probably had nothing to do with why she couldn't stop looking at him, that had more to do with how good he looked and the way. 'No Buff, don't go there', she silently scolded herself. 'He's nothing but a good friend with a really good-looking ass.' Her own thought made her eyes go wide and she blushed slightly. She could see Spike giving her an odd look before smirking and chuckled.  
  
"Something the matter, luv?" he asked, a smile still remaining in his face. Which was very inappropriate considering the grave situation they were in. But Buffy couldn't help but smile too, his smile strangely contagious. And of course, some more blushing.  
  
"No," she said quickly, trying to hide her red face. "I just want to find Giles as soon as possible and get this over and done with so we can all go home."  
  
He shrugged and paused in his step.  
  
"I'll say your wait is no over. He's just around the corner."  
  
Buffy stopped as well and took a quick peek into the large room they were standing outside off. And just as Spike said, there was Giles, pacing back and forth mumbling something in front of what looked like an altar. And behind him a shadow she recognized all too well hovered. And its red eyes were directed directly at her.  
  
"Shit!" she exclaimed and drew back quickly, making Alex stagger for a moment before falling against the wall. The collision resulted in a low bang, but since the house was totally quiet both the thing inside the room and Giles heard it.  
  
"What is it, Buffy?" Spike asked troubled.  
  
She stammered for a moment before leaning down to help Alex back up. The witch had barely noticed that she'd just fallen against the wall.  
  
"The thing is in there," she whispered. "And Giles too, just as you said. He's making some kind of altar.  
  
Spike walked leaned in so that he also could see what was in the room. His eyes were better equipped to see in the dark, and he could clearly see five human forms inside the thing. And he could see Giles walking towards them.  
  
"Shit!" he also exclaimed and drew back. Buffy gave him a worried look and he put his hand over her mouth to make sure she'd remain quiet. But it was no use.  
  
"I know your there Buffy, you might as well come out," Giles all too familiar voice said, totally void of emotions. "And bring Spike and the witch along."  
  
Surprised and notably scared she complied, practically dragging Alex with her. Soon Spike followed the two girls, warily eyeing Buffy's former watcher.  
  
"What's with the red?" he asked, the same cocky attitude as always, but he was so tense that if Buffy didn't know better she'd thought his veins would pop. Giles just stared at him, not understanding what he meant. "The altar thing-y.?" Spike added, tilting his head in the altars direction. It was covered in red flowers that smelled really strong and on the ground below it was something dark red that could be dried blood. Usually Spike would have been able to tell by the smell but because of the strong scent from the flowers he couldn't.  
  
Giles chuckled and gave the vampire an almost friendly glance.  
  
"Oh, Spike. Always hiding behind that mask of yours, coming with rude comments every minute. But it's just a facade. Really you're just a lost pathetic vampire that can't get it through his head that no one loves him, and that no one ever will. That new soul of yours won't make any difference."  
  
Spike couldn't hide the sudden pain he felt inside hearing those words even though he knew Giles was just trying to tick him off. But to his surprise, Buffy stepped forward.  
  
"I think you should lay off, Giles. He was a much better man then you are now even before he got his soul. He's not pathetic, and I do think that someone could love him, if he just had the patient and the time to let that love grow."  
  
Giles looked surprised at her, not expecting Buffy to take Spike in defense like that. And the look on Spike's face was just priceless. It was a mix of hope, happiness, sadness and admiration. 'Yes, pathetic indeed', Giles thought amused. 'He's noting more then a shell of the vampire he once were, only doing what he thinks Buffy would want him to do.'  
  
'And that isss what'sss going to be hisss fall,' the voice said in Giles mind. 'Now do as we've decided.'  
  
"Yes Master," Giles answered out loud.  
  
Buffy frowned.  
  
"Who are you talking to?" she asked curiously. Then she remembered the thing she'd seen earlier. She turned her head slightly and then she saw it again. She couldn't help but shudder as she felt the pure evil radiate from it. "Oh," was all she could say before she looked away from it.  
  
But Spike stood as frozen, his eyes fixed on the thing.  
  
"Buffy," he whispered. When she didn't react he spoke louder. "Buffy!" Now she turned too him. "It's someone inside of it."  
  
She stared at him like he was crazy, before turning back to the thing. At first she couldn't make out much off anything, except those creepy red eyes, but then she saw it. Five silhouettes barely visible in the shadow created by the being.  
  
"Who is it?" she asked Giles harshly. "Who is it inside of that thing."  
  
Giles snorted and gave the shadow an admiring gaze.  
  
"First of all, don't call it a thing call it Master. And second, it's your beloved scoobies, as you call them." His laugh was truly evil, and there was now no trace of the nice man she'd known since she'd moved to Sunnydale.  
  
"The scoobies?" Buffy asked, not really scared. "Willow? Xander? Who else? Dawn?"  
  
At the thought of Dawn being hurt Spike stepped forward and lifted Giles up in the air. The glare he gave the watcher should have scared anyone half to death, but Giles only smiled.  
  
"If Dawn's hurt, I swear-" he screamed, but was cut off by Giles' laugh.  
  
"Oh, Spike. Always so aggressive. I'm sure Dawn is fine." He paused to give Spike another smile. "For now. Now put me down again, or I swear to you that your precious Dawn wont survive her little visit inside my Master."  
  
Spike immediately dropped him and took a step back. He did his best to see who it was inside of the thing that Giles called Master, but it was to dark.  
  
"Why are you doing this?" Buffy asked, tears in her eyes threatening to fall. "This isn't you."  
  
Giles laugh made chills go down her spine, and she unconsciously took Spikes hand in hers.  
  
"Oh, I guarantee you that this is me, and you should be grateful."  
  
She stared at him in disbelief.  
  
"Grateful, for what? You threatening to kill my sister, shooting my- shooting Spike, and probably holding Willow and Xander hostage inside of you Master. I say I can't find anything there that I'm grateful for!" She was now so mad that she almost jumped up and down as she spoke.  
  
But Giles just continued smiling, although more softly now.  
  
"Don't you see, Buffy? I'm doing this for you," he said gently. "I'm doing this so you can have a normal life."  
  
Buffy helped Alex sit down so she could move more freely and then she stepped closer to Giles, not letting go of Spikes hand. She could feel him squeezing hers in support, and she gave him a thankful look. She decided that when this was all over she would sit down and have a long talk with him about her feelings and what they should do in the future. After thinking that he would die she couldn't even contemplate on a life without him.  
  
"I don't understand you Giles," she said coldly. "You say your doing this to give me a normal life. But how will killing my sister and my friends do that? They are the closest to a normal life I ever can have. I am a slayer; I can't have a normal life.  
  
He gave her a look that a father would have given to his child when it wasn't listening.  
  
"Buffy, they are holding you back. They and the whole slayer business. But I can fix it. My Master has told me that if you continue taking care of them, you will die. But if you would make a sacrifice, or be forced to make one, he can transform you into the girl you were before you became the slayer. A normal girl."  
  
"And this sacrifice is letting you kill my friends, right?" she screamed angrily. "I can't believe this. And how the hell can you believe what that thing tells you? For all you know it could be lying about everything."  
  
Giles shook his head with a sad expression.  
  
"Buffy, you don't know what's best for you. But I do, and I will make sure it happens. In the end I hope you'll realize that I'm right." And then he turned back to the altar.  
  
Buffy stood as frozen for a long moment, shocked by what Giles had told her. She couldn't believe that he would do this, he loved her! He wouldn't do anything to hurt the ones she cared about, but now he did. If Spike hadn't stroked his hand over her cheek she probably would have stood there for much longer.  
  
"Buffy, what should I do?" he asked her, concern written all over his face.  
  
She swallowed forcefully and shot a glance at the demon.  
  
"Try to free them, and I'll do my best to get trough to Giles," she finally said, her voice shaking.  
  
Spike looked like he was about to object, but he changed his mind and gave her a quick nod. After giving her hand a final squeeze he ran towards the thing.  
  
Buffy looked at Alex who was at the moment leaning against the wall, barely awake. She was only able to give Buffy a weak smile before Buffy left her there.  
  
~*~  
  
Spike gave Buffy a final look before running to Dawn and the others aid. Even though he knew it wasn't the best time for it, he felt happy. Buffy had shown that she did have feelings for him, even though they might not yet be love.  
  
The demon hovered in the air only a couple off yards in front of him. The closer he got to it, the more could he see. Dawns face was now visible for his enhanced seeing, and he was pretty sure that the woman beside her was Willow.  
  
"You all right, 'bit?" he yelled at her, not really thinking that she'd be able to reply. But to his surprised she did.  
  
"Yeah, just fine. If you ignore that I can't move anything but my head and that I'll probably just live for another five minutes," she said, not very loudly but perfectly hearable.  
  
"Dawn, it'll be okay, don't worry," Willow said soothingly to the teenager. "Buffy, Spike and Alex are doing their best stop top this."  
  
Spike stepped as close as he could without touching the demon, and looked at Willow.  
  
"You know anything about what's going one? And who is that behind you? Xander, and who else?" he asked her curiously.  
  
"It's Xander, Anya and Nils. And yes, I do know stuff about this demon. It's called 'The One' and it's very powerful when it's connected to it's full power, but until then all it can do is control a couple of people. And that's what it's doing to Giles."  
  
Spike gave the shadow close to him an unsure look.  
  
"So your saying it can't hurt me?" he asked.  
  
Dawn nodded.  
  
"No, it can't. And I think it's tired, too," she said to the vampire. Both he and the four people trapped gave her questioning looks. She smiled weekly and concentrated on Spike. "Well, it hasn't done anything to try to get into your mind has it? Or Buffys? Don't you think it would do the same to you as it has done to us if it could?"  
  
Willow thought about it for a moment before nodding.  
  
"Yeah, I think your right." She turned her head towards Spike. "We're fine really, we just can't move. I doubt there is anything you can do to get us free. But I think Alex could. Where is she?" She looked around curiously for the witch. When she saw Spike avoiding her eyes she got worried. "What is it Spike, has something happened?"  
  
The vampire looked down for a moment before meeting Willows gaze.  
  
"She did a very hard spell and she was exhausted. Then we needed her to open a door for us and she almost collapsed. She's awake now I think, but she's very tired."  
  
For the first time Anya opened her mouth.  
  
"What kind of spell was it?" she asked.  
  
Again Spike looked down.  
  
"A healing spell," he said quietly.  
  
Dawn, Willow, Xander and Anya all looked at him worriedly.  
  
"Buffy was hurt?" Xander asked, furious at the thought of someone hurting Buffy.  
  
"No," Spike said, still looking down. "I was."  
  
They all watched him in surprise.  
  
"But-But you don't look hurt," Dawn said confused.  
  
He chuckled slightly.  
  
"Remember the part with the healing spell, niblet?" he said amused. "Anyway, she healed me, making so that she was so exhausted that she was unconscious for a bit. Then the whole opening the door for us took the last strength she had left."  
  
Xander fumed with anger.  
  
"So this really nice girl could have died saving you? I thought the whole soul thing would have given you a conscience. But I guess I was wrong," he said enraged.  
  
Spike looked away, shame evident on his face, and he obviously thought that that was the opinion of the others as well. But if he'd been watching them he'd seen that they stared at Xander in disbelief and anger.  
  
"I'm sorry," he whispered. "But I couldn't help it, I wasn't even awake."  
  
"It's okay, Spike," Anya said. "We all know that your good now, and at least I'm glad your not dead. Just ignore Xander, all right?"  
  
Spike was surprised that Anya took him in defense, and looked back at them. He could see that everyone but Xander gave him supporting gazes.  
  
"Now lets try to get out of here," Nils said. The Swede hadn't said anything until then.  
  
"Yes," Willow said in agreement and soon all of them discussed the best ways to defeat the demon. But they were interrupted by a loud bang in the further down in the room. Turning as much as they could, they saw a small group of people approaching. It was Marcus and about ten other men that they recognized from the fight outside the hotel.  
  
"Bloody hell," Spike exclaimed.  
  
TBC 


	14. chapter 14

A/N: This is the last chapter of this story, unless I decide to write a short 'One week later' chapter. Enjoy! And once again, thanks for the reviews! /mell  
  
Chapter 14  
  
"Giles, you have to listen-" Buffy started, when she heard footsteps behind her. Turning, she saw Marcus and his men running towards her. Behind her also Giles stared at the men approaching them.  
  
"What's going on?" he screamed at his master. "This wasn't a part of the plan."  
  
A loud shriek was heard from the demon, and everyone that could, covered his or her ears. The shriek soon transformed into an evil laugh that sent chills down the spines of the people gathered in the old house.  
  
"The rulesss hasss changed," the voice said coldly. "Kill the Ssslayer."  
  
Without hesitating even once the newly arrived Swedish men ran towards Buffy. At first it looked like Giles was to join them, but then he turned to his master instead.  
  
"She wasn't to be killed! This wasn't a part of our deal!" he screamed at the demon. "I demand an explanation!"  
  
Again the laughter was heard, this time even more evil.  
  
"I have no more ussse for you, Watcher," it said. "If you want to live, help the othersss kill the Ssslayer. If you don't help, you'll be killed jussst asss the othersss."  
  
As to underline that statement, a gun fired and the bullet hit the wall only inches from him. With eyes wide from shock, Giles staggered to the side and stared from his master to Buffy who was fighting for her life. He could see how she was trying not to hurt them seriously, but since they were all very skilled fighters she had problems just holding them off.  
  
"She- I can't let her die! This is all for her! Have you lied to me all along?" he asked, almost crying now, only a shell of the Giles Buffy had known for years. He seemed very young and lost.  
  
"You are no longer vital to me, Watcher," the voice said. "You've done your part, bringing the ssslayer here. But ssshe wasss never the one I wanted to sssuffer."  
  
Giles looked around. Inside his master four of the people he cared for very much struggled to break free, and beside them Spike stood, looking like he was trapped in the same way.  
  
"Spike, you have to help her! You have to help Buffy!" Dawn screamed at the top of her lungs.  
  
He struggled with all the strength inside of him and watched every move Buffy made with tormented eyes. He looked like he was about to burst into tears.  
  
"I can't!" he said weakly. "I can't save her. I've failed her again."  
  
"Spike. It's weak now, if you just concentrate all you can on getting loose, I think it's possible," Willow said, still staying calm. "Just concentrate."  
  
The vampire's expression was at first doubtful, but then it changed into the face of someone that was focus all his strength on one thing.  
  
Giles looked away from him, and watched Buffy again. At that moment she had the upper hand, but it seemed to be changing fast. She had just pushed a tall brown-haired man into a wall, and he slowly fell to the floor, unconscious. But behind her it was still four men left, all with guns and swords. The mix of old-fashioned weapons and modern one's looked quite ridiculous, and at another time Giles would have been amused. But not now. Marcus took one step forward and pointed his gun at Buffy.  
  
But at the same second as he was about to pull the trigger Spike finally broke free and her jumped at the man. But since Marcus was human the vampire doubled over in pain from the chip, and they both fell to the ground, shaking from the pain. Marcus was the first to recover, but luckily Buffy had now noticed him and she kicked him in the stomach, making him fall again.  
  
"That's what you get for attacking my boyfriend," she exclaimed angrily, looking as shocked by her own words as Spike. "I mean-Spike," she quickly said, turning to the remaining men. Spike was about to help her when he was again trapped by the will of the demon.  
  
"Bloody hell, not again!" he yelled in frustration. He concentrated hard on taking one step towards Buffy. But it was impossible. Then he tried moving in another direction, and to his surprise it worked. Again he tried to go to Buffy, and again he was trapped.  
  
"What's happening?" he yelled at Giles.  
  
Giles shook his head slowly, trying to think clearly. It seemed like the demons hold on him had loosened, but he knew it would never be completely cut.  
  
"It's preventing you from helping her," he informed the vampire. "It's focusing its entire power on that."  
  
Spike stepped closer to the watcher and grabbed him by the lapels of his shirt and lifted him from the ground.  
  
"And why is he doing that?" Spike asked coldly, his eyes glowing with rage.  
  
Giles shuddered at the hate evident in Spikes eyes, and looked down, suddenly overwhelmed with shame.  
  
"He's trying to make you suffer," he whispered.  
  
Spike dropped Giles in surprise.  
  
"Me? Why me?" he asked, not a little startled.  
  
"Because you are strong, and you can live forever. Your misery will live forever. And you love both Buffy and Dawn so much-- I know that now. It lives by the misery of strong beings." Giles paused to breathe, tears now streaming down his face. "I'm sorry, I didn't know. It tricked me, it told me that Buffy would die because of her friends, and the only way to prevent it was to kill them. And then it told me that it could make her into a normal girl again." He stopped again and looked at Spike pleadingly. "I only did what I thought was best!"  
  
The vampire backed away, his feelings mixed between disgust and sympathy.  
  
"And Dawn? You were just going to let it kill Dawn?" he asked angrily.  
  
Giles slowly sat down on the floor, leaning against a wall beside the altar.  
  
"No," he said, with eyes full of shame. "I was going to kill her. And the others also. My master can't physically hurt anyone. It can only make others do as it wishes. And I guess I was only one of many that he controlled. I'm mortified that I didn't understand it sooner. I could have stopped all this. My master never had any plans of doing as we'd decided."  
  
Spike turned from the watcher to Buffy, wanting to check that she was okay. But to his anguish she wasn't. The demon had moved so it was between Spike and Buffy, bringing Willow and the others with it. And through the darkness he saw Buffy lying on the ground, barely awake from a blow to her head. And there was nothing he could do. There was now three men-- including Marcus-- that was still standing. Marcus stood over Buffy, holding a gun to her head and looking like he was waiting for something, and the other two were slowly approaching the five figures inside the One.  
  
"Sodding hell," Spike breathed out as he realized what they were about to do. "They're going to kill them all."  
  
Again he tried to move towards his Slayer, and again it was impossible. There was nothing he could do to stop what was happening. He felt like someone had put a stake inside of him and pushed it as slow as possible towards his heart, but stopping just before it reached it, leaving him in the agony and pain.  
  
He didn't notice that he was crying until something wet fell on the palm of his hand.  
  
"You have to do something!" he yelled at Giles who looked like he might pass out at any second. "No matter what that thing has done to you, you can't have forgotten how much you love the slayer and the lil'bit. And Red, the Whelp and Anya. You can't just let them be killed like this. You can't!"  
  
Giles didn't even look up at him. In desperation Spike pulled him up again so that they were standing face to face, and he hit the man in the jaw. They both fell to the ground in pain.  
  
"You love them," Spike cried to Giles. "And you know I do, you just said it. You can't let them die, please!"  
  
The man continued looking absent, but then he suddenly looked up.  
  
"You have to kill me," he said seriously. "That's the only way. You have to kill me and the three others that are still left. The only power the One has is from it slaves, if all it's slaves are dead it has no power any longer."  
  
Spike stared at him, taken aback. No matter what Giles had done, Spike couldn't stop thinking of him as the man he'd known for years, not always liking him but he had always held great respect for the man. And the soul inside of him screamed that it was wrong to take a human life, even if it was to save others.  
  
"I-I can't. There has to be another way," he whispered, tormented by the image of Buffy lying on the ground, now totally unconscious, and two men standing only inches from Dawn, waiting for the signal from their master to kill them. "How'd you even know it'll work? How do you know that it doesn't have other slaves outside, just waiting to be called?"  
  
"I'm sure we're the only ones left. You have to do it!" Giles pleaded with him, obviously not caring any longer for his own life, guilt the only feeling visible in his eyes.  
  
Spike was to object one more time as he saw Marcus put the gun closer to Buffy, readying himself too shoot. With tears in his eyes he grabbed the gun that Giles had in his pocket, and put it against the man's forehead.  
  
"I'm sorry," he whispered as he pulled the trigger.  
  
The sound was more horrible then he could have ever imagined, and too his surprise not only Giles fell limp to the ground, but the three Swedish men as well. The scent of blood reached his nostrils, and his head filled with the excruciating pain from the chip. At the same moment as he saw a glowing Alex fall to the ground like she was in slow motion, everything turned black.  
  
~*~  
  
Buffy woke up to find a gun just inches from her eyes. With the superior speed of the Slayer she pushed it aside, but found that it made no difference, for the man that had held it suddenly fell to the ground. She tried to sit up, but her head hurt like hell and she felt blood running down her face from a wound over her eyebrow.  
  
Repelling a sudden rush of nausea she dragged herself into a sitting position and felt for Marcus pulse. He had none. Turning slightly she saw Spike standing in the far end of the room holding a gun. In her still confused mind she couldn't remember the reason for why that would make her angry, but the sight of a blood covered Giles at his feet's made her memory return.  
  
She was just about to scream and run over to her beloved watcher and the vampire that she had thought that she loved only minutes ago that had killed him. But then Spike fell to the ground, looking as dead as Marcus and Giles were. Half crawling and half walking she got to his side, and couldn't stop the tears from coming when she saw the gun in his hand. He had killed Giles; he had taken a gun and shot him in the head. Why?  
  
For a moment he mind was blank, no taught except sorrow filled it, and she didn't hear her sister calling for her. Not until Dawn wrapped her arms around Buffy's shoulder and held her tight she even noticed that there were others in the room.  
  
"He's dead," she cried into her sister hair. "Giles dead, Dawnie, and it was Spike that killed him!"  
  
Dawn slowly rocked her back and forth to calm her, her own face covered in tears.  
  
"He had no other choice, Buffy. I heard them talk. He had too do it, or else we all would be dead."  
  
Buffy just continued crying as Willow, Xander and Anya reached them. Nils was sitting beside his dead brother with a blank expression that was pretty similar to the one Buffy had had only moments before.  
  
The group of friends sat down next to the unconscious vampire and the dead watcher and cried.  
  
~*~  
  
Willow watched Buffy's face with concern. The blond had gone from total numbness to utter grief in seconds, and now it was like she couldn't stop crying. And the others around them were in pretty much the same state. But even though Willow was grieving too, something was nagging on her mind. Something important.  
  
"How did the others die?" she suddenly asked to no one in particular. Xander looked up at her in surprise, his eyes red from tears.  
  
"What do you mean? They died, can't you just be happy about it?" he asked, his voice sharp from the pain.  
  
Willow looked around, not wanting to meet his eyes, and then she saw her.  
  
"Alex!" she screamed, quickly getting up and running to the witch that lay on the floor.  
  
The blond Swedish girl didn't move when she reached her, but her eyes slowly opened.  
  
"Hey, you," she whispered softly. "Everyone okay?"  
  
Willow couldn't answer as she stared into Alex eyes. They looked so tired.  
  
"Yes," she lied silently and put on a fake smile. "Everyone's okay."  
  
Alex sighed in relief, still not moving.  
  
"Good. I did my best to stop it, I did. I don't think I have much time left- " she whispered, barely hearable.  
  
Willow felt tears fall down her cheeks again and she took the witch's hand in hers.  
  
"What are you talking about? You're going to be just fine. You just need to rest, that's all," she said, trying to sound confident.  
  
Alex chuckled slightly, only making more of her strength leave her.  
  
"Don't lie to me. I can feel it." She paused and breathed in deeply. "I killed them. I took my last strength and I killed them. I heard what Giles said, and I know Spike wouldn't have time to stop them all, so I gathered up the last of my power and killed them. With magic." Again she stopped, and this time her breath was so shallow that it didn't do her any good. "I'm so tired," she whispered, just before her eyes fell shut for the last time.  
  
"No!" Willow screamed, and at the same time, the shadow started fading and the demon let out its death cry. It was enough to make the whole house tremble, and the floor gave off a sound that couldn't be good.  
  
"Oh no," Dawn said in panic and dragged her sister of from where she was sitting on the floor. "Eh, guys? I think we should get out of here, and fast!" she called out to the others.  
  
Both Willow and Buffy seemed to be totally absent, barely noticing the shakes the house did, so the others had to try to get them out.  
  
Dawn put her sister's arm around her and helped her up. Then she looked at Xander, motioning for him to pick up Spike. To her surprise he didn't object, and he pulled up all of his remaining strength to be able to lift up the vampire and put him over his shoulder. Luckily, Spike wasn't that heavy. Behind them, Anya helped Willow up and Nils soon followed the group.  
  
The old house continued to tremble dangerously and it was a close call that they got out through the front door before it collapsed, trapping the bodies of those that had died.  
  
~*~  
  
Spike woke up with the feeling that everyone was watching him. Opening his eyes, he found that the situation was pretty much so. Beside him Dawn sat, giving him a sad smile, her face looking several years older all of a sudden. And beside her sat Xander with Anya leaning against him, none of them looking like they were even aware of it. In the far end of the room, that he recognized as Giles hotel room; sat Willow with her face rested in her hands. She looked like she was crying, but her hands prevented him to really see.  
  
His mind wasn't really clear, and he had a very dim memory of what had happened earlier. But he knew it was bad by seeing the looks on the people he'd started to think of as friend's faces.  
  
"Where's Buffy?" he asked with concern written all over him, after noticing that she wasn't present. "Is she okay?"  
  
Everyone but Dawn avoided his gaze, and he decided to concentrate all of his attention to the teen only, his head still hurting and his eyes were blurry.  
  
"She's not hurt," Dawn said avoiding. "But she's not-she's not okay, either. You don't remember, do you?"  
  
Spike looked around in confusion. The last thing he remembered was someone- Marcus-standing over Buffy with a gun, and Giles asking him to-  
  
"Oh no!" he said, suddenly remembering it all. "I-I killed him. I took a gun and I-"  
  
He wasn't able to continue, his soul flooded him with emotions of sorrow and guilt and pain. He had killed a human being. He had killed Giles. Yes, he had killed before, quite a lot actually, but that was different. Now he had a soul, and the other murders he'd been able to push away with the thought that he hadn't had one then, he hadn't known better. But now.  
  
"Yes, you killed him," Buffy's suddenly said from the door opening. "You killed Giles. And I loved you!" she screamed, her face deformed by sorrow. "I loved you, and look what you've done. I trusted you, I thought you were good now, but you aren't. You're still the monster you've always been!" After that she stormed out, still crying.  
  
Spike felt as though something inside him broke, and tears he didn't know were there fell from his eyes. He shut his eyes, hoping that it would get rid of the memories, but it only made it worse. And her words rang in his ears.  
  
"I loved you. I trusted you. Your still a monster!"  
  
He didn't see how Dawn, Xander and Anya exchanged concerned looks, and he didn't see how Willow stopped crying and looked up, just as shocked by Buffy's outburst as the others. And he didn't see Buffy standing outside the door, wishing she hadn't said all that, but too filled with grief to tell him. And he was so filled with sorrow and guilt that he didn't feel Dawn slipping her arm behind her back and holding him as he cried. All he saw was Buffys face filled with pain and the way Giles had looked when he had shot him. And he cried.  
  
~*~  
  
The next day the group was getting ready to leave. Spike hadn't spoken a word since the day before, and Buffy wasn't much better. They hadn't even looked at each other, but for different reasons.  
  
Buffy was ashamed of what she had said to him, but she didn't know what to say to make it right again. Her grief had been so strong that she hadn't known what she'd been doing, and the words had just come out of her. She wanted to walk up to him and kiss him and tell him that it would all be all right, that she loved him and that she knew that he'd done the only thing he could have done, or else they all would have died. But she couldn't bring herself to do it.  
  
Spike's mind went back and forth between when he'd killed Giles and the things Buffy had said the day before, and all he could think about was how he wanted it all to end. Thinking that she hated him and blaming himself for the death of a human, totally forgetting the part of it being the only way to save the rest of the humans on the planet from a future of being slaves to a demon. The only thing keeping him from walking out to meet the sun was Dawn. The teenager had been keeping a close eye on him since he'd woken up, and she made sure no suicide attempts could be made. She also made sure he ate before she helped him change clothes and get cleaned up.  
  
"Spike," she said gently. "Please answer me. I know it's tough, and I know your upset, but please. Buffy didn't mean what she said; she was just so totally messed up from loosing Giles that she didn't know what she was saying."  
  
But Spike just continued looking straight ahead, like he hadn't heard her.  
  
Dawn sighed and packed the few things he had brought with him when they'd started this trip. It wasn't much, and when she was finished she found herself sitting by his side for a long time, just holding his hand. Oh, how she wished she could get trough to him.  
  
In a room further down the corridor, Willow made sure she hadn't forgotten anything. Her thought jumped back and forth between the present and what had happened the night before. Pictures of Giles and Alex visible for her every time she opened her eyes.  
  
Even though she'd only known Alex for a week or so, she felt as if she'd known her for much longer. During their time together they'd fought, laughed and battled the forces of darkness. They had grown very close, and for a moment Willow had been able to forget about Tara. But now they were both gone.  
  
Xander and Anya had gone to the airport and bought tickets home for all of them. The ex-couple was saying goodbye to Nils at the moment, and without thinking about it, they were holding hands. None of them wanted to be apart from the other.  
  
Neither of the Scoobies was hungry when it was time for lunch, and they just sat in the cafeteria, talking only in whispers and careful not to say anything that would upset Buffy or Spike further. The former lovers sat as far away from each other as they could, but when no one was looking, Buffy shot Spike a hopeful glance. But he continued staring straight ahead.  
  
"I want to go home," she said weakly to her friends. "When are we leaving?"  
  
Xander and Anya exchanged looks of relief to hear her sounding calm.  
  
"Soon," Anya told her gently. "Our plane leaves in two hours."  
  
Buffy nodded and looked down at her hands. She looked exhausted.  
  
"Yes, we're going home," Dawn said, watching Spike with concern. "And everything will be okay, Spike."  
  
He didn't answer.  
  
~*~  
  
One hour and ten minutes later the group sat in the waiting room at the airport, when Spike suddenly got up.  
  
"Where are you going?" Dawn asked worriedly. And for the first time that day he spoke.  
  
"I-I need to think. I'll be back before the plane leaves, okay?" he said, his voice sounding older then ever before.  
  
Dawn nodded, but didn't take her eyes off of him as he walked away and seated himself by the bar in the far end of the room. At first she thought that he was going to order something to drink, but then she saw him taking up a piece of paper and a pen from his bag and started writing.  
  
"What's he doing?" Xander asked, actually sounding concerned for the vampire. It seemed like his opinions of Spike had drastically changed during the last 24 hours.  
  
"I don't know," Dawn said slowly. "He's writing something."  
  
Xander watched him for a while as well, before turning to Buffy.  
  
"You okay, Buff?"  
  
She shrugged and gave him a weak smile.  
  
"Yeah," she answered, not very convincing. "Considering."  
  
Xander smiled, and gave her a quick hug.  
  
"Yeah, considering," he repeated silently. After that they all stayed quiet.  
  
~*~  
  
A voice spoke and said that it was time to get into the plane. Spike hadn't returned yet, and Dawn looked to where he'd been sitting. But he wasn't there. Surprised and worried of what might have happened to him she turned around, trying to detect his whereabouts. But she couldn't find him. But on the sofa next to her was two pieces of paper, one with her name on it. On the other 'Buffy' was written in old-fashioned handwriting.  
  
She took both papers in her hand and started reading the one that was for her.  
  
'Dear Dawnie. I'm sorry to do this, but it's what's best for everyone. I'm not coming with you back to ol' Sunny-D, don't think Buffy would be that happy seeing me every day. I don't know where I'll go, but I figure something out. I always do. I want you to know that I love you, niblet, and that you shouldn't worry about me. I'll be fine. Luv Spike'  
  
It was with tears in her eyes that she got onboard the plane back home.  
  
The end  
  
  
  
A/N: That's it. I know, I know, it's kinda depressing, but I didn't feel a happy ending really suited this story. I still might write that 'later' story though, just to get it out of my system. But don't get your hopes up, no happiness there either. But 'til then, bye! /mell 


	15. One week later

One week later.  
  
Buffy stared out at the tree were he'd been standing so many times. Oh, how she wished she'd acted differently. Not only that last day in Sweden, but every time she had talked to him since he had gotten his soul back. Hell, maybe even as far back as when she'd been brought back to life.  
  
But she hadn't, and now there was nothing she could do. It had only been a week, and already she missed him so much. And there was no doubt in her mind that he wasn't going to return. For what had to be the tenth time that day she read his last note to her.  
  
'Hi Slayer. Or maybe I should call you Buffy. I don't know. All I know is that I can't close my eyes without seeing your face, and I can't sleep without dreaming about you. And I can't stop thinking about what I did to you. Your lil'sis tells me it wasn't my fault, that I had no other choice. But you always have another choice, and I didn't stop to think about mine. And I killed someone. Someone you cared about, and someone I respected. He might have done some bad things, but that doesn't excuse what I've done. You're the Slayer, and it's your job to save people, protect them from the things hiding in the dark. And I killed someone. I don't expect you to ever forgive me, I know I can't, but I want you to know that I love you with all I am. And I will love you forever. I won't ever come back, don't want to destroy your life more then I already have. So this is goodbye Slayer. With my undying love Your William'  
  
With tears in her eyes she folded the paper and put it back in the small box she kept it in. All she wanted was to look him in the eyes and tell him that she didn't blame him for what happened. Giles screwed up, and he had to take responsibility for his actions. It wasn't Spike's fault.  
  
But she couldn't tell him that, because she didn't know were he was. For all she knew he could be dead, just another piece of dust in the wind. He would never know how much she loved him.  
  
~*~  
  
The old woman smiled at him again. He couldn't bring himself to smile back, even though he wanted to. She had been good to him, helping him find a place to stay and given him some food. Food wasn't what he needed, but it didn't matter. It was the thought that counted, right?  
  
Spike had arrived in London two days earlier, and he had only eaten once since he'd left Buffy, Dawn and the others in Sweden. But he barely noticed. For some reason he'd stopped caring about everything since he'd left her. He would have just stayed out waiting for the sun if it hadn't been for that voice inside of his head. It said that he would be a coward if he did. He would let himself of the hook, not really pay for what he'd done.  
  
"I'm turning into Angel," he thought, but he wasn't even able to gather up the enough feelings to be amused by that.  
  
All he wanted to do was disappear, to get rid of all of the emotions inside of him. But he wouldn't.  
  
All he would do was to let sleep take him so that he could see her face again.  
  
The End  
  
(Definitely)  
  
A/N: Now it's finally finished, and I can't begin to say how relieved I am. I was thinking about giving up writing this sometime around the 10th or the 11th chapter, but I didn't. I would love some more reviews on this story, and on more time: Thank you, all who reviewed, you're what made me continue! Luv mell 


End file.
